Minor Setback Part III
by SweetSauce
Summary: This is the third part of the Minor Setback series. Shameless Plug: voted "Best House/Cuddy Romance Fiction" at 2010 Rock the House Awards :
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** All rights belong to Fox and David Shore. **  
Author's Note:** A big thanks to my beta _**Ceciilee**_ who is simply awesome!

This is the third and final part of the _**Minor Setback**_ series. I hope you like it and don't forget to click the "Review this story/chapter" button at the bottom of this page.

***

_**April 2007**_

Cuddy is attending a conference in Boston and House has been pouting like a little boy ever since he heard that she'll be gone for a few days.  
"What am I suppose to do for three days?"  
"Go to work, take care of the boys, and try to stay out of trouble."  
"How about at night? You know…"  
"Greg, I think you can survive with no sex for three nights."  
"I don't think Mr. Happy can."  
Cuddy simply rolls her eyes and replies "I think it's about time that Mr. Happy gets re-acquainted with Mr. Right Hand again."  
House points at Cuddy's belly and asks "how about the baby? She's going to miss Daddy reading her stories and playing her the piano."  
Cuddy, who's now eight months pregnant smiles and answers "Well, we'll have to make sure I call in at night so she can hear you read and play the piano."  
"I can't take care of the boys by myself."  
"Greg, your mom and Lina will be here to help you."  
"I know, but what if the boys miss you?"  
"I'm only a phone call away. I'll bring my laptop and I'll set the webcam so they can see me at night."  
"How about me? Can I see more of you at night too?"  
"Greg! I'm eight months pregnant."  
House points at Cuddy's breast and asks "even a little peek of the girls?"  
"We'll see."

***

Shortly after Jake's first semester, he was accepted into the accelerated program which allows him to graduate medical school in three years (_instead of the usual four_). Jake was allowed to forego almost 30 credit hours of classroom-base courses after acing all the assessment tests. But instead of going directly to clinical rotations (_3rd and 4th year_), he participated in HMS' New Pathway curriculum which is base on Problem Based Learning (PBL) curriculum that integrates clinical experience, basic sciences in small work group format. All of his professors are so impressed by his talent that they've allowed him latitude in integrating his MD (_from Harvard_) and PhD (_from MIT_) courses to his independent curriculum. Jake spent the second half of his freshmen and sophomore year working on two things: improving his dissection skills by spending at least 30 hours a week in the anatomy lab. He also took advantage of his relatively light schedule by working on his PhD dissertation.

Since fall semester, he's been serving his 'clinical rotation' at different hospitals throughout the academic year. A task that he's very familiar with since he's been doing internship at PPTH for the last three summers.

After the family's first and only vacation last summer, Cuddy has only seen Jake a total of five days (_during Christmas week_). With the conference's rigid agenda and Jake's busy schedule, mother and son have plan a quick get together before she flies back home. However after one of the guest speaker cancelled at the last minute, Cuddy immediately devices a surprise visit to her eldest son's apartment. She knocks at Jake's apartment, and is surprise to see a beautiful blond girl opening the door.  
Marie recognizes Cuddy from Jake's family photos so she opens the door and excitedly says "hi Mrs. House!"  
Cuddy hesitantly says hi back and asks "is Jake in?"  
Marie nods and when Cuddy gives her a blank stare, Marie immediately realizes that her boyfriend hasn't informed his mother about their living arrangement. Marie politely asks Cuddy to come in while she gets Jake.  
A quick look around the apartment informs Cuddy that the blond girl is Jake's girlfriend, Marie.  
Cuddy thinks to herself "she must be visiting him since it's his first day off in two weeks."  
A groggy Jake comes out and greets his mom. He asks "hey Mom! I thought you wouldn't be free until later this afternoon."  
"Yeah, I thought so too but one of this morning's speaker got food poisoning and so it freed up a few hours. Will you be interested in making our coffee break to a lunch date?"  
"Oh, ok. Sound good Mom."  
Cuddy looks over to the kitchen where Marie is milling around and then to her son and asks "is there something you want to tell me Jacob Gregory House?"  
Jake knows that he's in deep trouble the moment his mother starts calling him by his full name. He stammers "ah…ok. I suppose you've met my roommate?"  
Cuddy raises her brows and plays along "yes, I have. I thought I raised you better than that! Shouldn't you properly introduce her to your mother?"  
"Of course." Jake goes over the kitchen and brings Marie back to the living room with him. "Hmmm…Mom this is Marie. Marie this is my mom."  
Cuddy gives Marie a warm hug and says "nice to meet you Marie. I've heard so much about you."  
Marie replies "oh, it's so nice to finally meet you too Mrs. House. Jake has met my parents but I've only met his Dad."  
"Yes, Greg and Dr. Wilson mentioned meeting you last summer."  
Jake interrupts both women to announce that he's going to take a quick shower so they can head out for lunch.  
Cuddy nods at her son and immediately focuses on Marie. Cuddy tries to be polite but she wants to know more about Marie and what are her intentions with her son.  
"Jake mentioned that you're from Switzerland. How do you like living here?"  
"I love Boston! It's big but not overwhelming like New York. Love the variety of restaurants and Cape Cod is not far away."  
"Are you planning to stay here for good?"  
"I originally came for my undergrad but I just got a two-year research fellowship last summer and I've decided to pursue my PhD too so I'm staying on for at least another three years."  
"What's your field of studies?"  
"My research fellowship is in evolutionary biology and I'm pursuing my doctorate in Biology."  
"Are you planning to teach or research?"  
"I would love to do both. My Dad is a professor at the University back home."  
"What does he teach?"  
"Dad teaches Biology."  
"And your mom?"  
"Mom's a journalist."  
The two women chitchat for awhile until Jake rejoins then.  
Jake asks "are you ready Mom?"  
Cuddy replies "yes of course." She looks over to Marie and asks "you're not joining us?"  
Marie shakes her head "I'm sorry Mrs. House. I have a class in half hour. However, it's really nice meeting you and good luck with the baby."

***

It was a very quite walk to the restaurant as Cuddy refuses to say a word to her son.  
"Mom, you'll have to talk to me at some point."  
Cuddy gives her son a penetrating look and asks "when were you planning to tell me?"  
"Tell you what?"  
"That you and your girlfriend are living together. Jacob you're only eighteen."  
"I'll be nineteen in three months. As I told Dad, it's just financially advantageous for Marie and me to room together."  
"Your Dad knows about this living arrangement?" Cuddy is visibly hurt that both her husband and her son have kept this a secret from her.  
Jake shrugs his shoulder and replies "I didn't tell him. He found out about it when he was snooping around last summer."  
"You've been living with your girlfriend since last year and it never occurred to you inform your mother?" Now, Cuddy is really fuming mad.  
"Don't worry Mom. It's not like we're planning to get married, have kids or anything like that."  
"So, what are you planning Jacob?"  
Jake rolls his eyes since his mom is still calling him Jacob "Mom, come on. Marie and I enjoy each other's company but we're much too pre-occupied with our career goals to get into a serious relationship."  
"Do you love her?"  
"Huh?"  
"It's a very simple question Jacob. Do you love her?"  
"She's smart, beautiful and funny. I like her. Why are you asking me this Mom?"  
"I don't like the idea of my eighteen year old son getting into a serious relationship. However, I don't want you to go through what your Dad and I went through. If you love her, you tell her now. Not twenty-years from now."  
"Mom, I am not Dad. I don't have any hang-ups saying that I love you. Unfortunately, I'm just not ready nor do I even know what I want. The only thing I'm certain that I love is… you, Dad, the twins..." he points at Cuddy's belly "and my baby sister." And the only thing I really want right now is to be a doctor."  
Cuddy nods at her son's honesty and says "I just want you to be happy."  
Jake nods and replies "I am happy, Mom."

"Your Dad mentioned that you're almost finished with your PhD."  
Jake nods and replies "I'll just have to defend my dissertation to the panel then I'm done."  
"When's your graduation?"  
"Graduation will be on June 8th and there will also be a dinner ceremony the night before. Do you think you'll be able to make it? The baby will only be 3 weeks old, I mean if she arrives on time."  
"Jake, I wouldn't miss it for the world."  
"Wouldn't it be funny if the baby arrives on your birthday? That would mean your youngest & eldest kids have yours and Dad's birthdays."  
Cuddy laughs and replies "that may actually happened since I'm due that week."  
"How's this pregnancy so far?"  
"It has been very smooth, reminded me so much when I had you. Which is good since the twins are a bit of handful right now."  
"Yeah, Dad mentioned that they're living up to their terrible twos stage."  
"They're not that bad. Ethan is very sweet but a picky eater. If he doesn't like his food, dinner is like 2-3 hours affair. Charlie is like a mini-Greg. Quite a bit of a contrarian, you should see the stare-down between him and your dad."  
Jake laughs and replies "Dad sent me a video of Charlie going through his tantrums. Complete with stripping down to his undies and rolling around the floor. Dad walks away but left the camera on, Charlie stops crying and starts playing. Dad walks back in the room; Charlie continues with his tantrum."  
"Yup! There is never a dull moment with those twins. Your Oma was just telling your dad this morning she caught Ethan jumping out of his crib because he needs to go potty. Anyway, their custom big-boy bed just got delivered the other day and hopefully your Dad can assemble it quickly before those boys gets hurt jumping offs their cribs."  
"What kind did you get?"  
"We got Ethan a speedboat bed and Charlie a sports car bed."  
"Are the twins moving to the upstairs rooms when the baby arrives?"  
Cuddy gives a big sigh and replies "we added a connecting French door in between the two rooms. Your Dad and Wilson painted the rooms. We decorated one room in car workshop theme while the other one has a nautical theme but that's as far as we get. I'm just not ready for the boys to be upstairs by themselves yet."  
Jake laughs and asks "So the boys will be sharing their room with the baby?"  
Cuddy smiles and replies "It will do for now until I can convince your Dad to move the crib in our bedroom."  
"Good luck with that!"

_**TBC**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**Author's Note:**__ A very big thank you to my beta Ceciilee, who again patiently went through drafts of this chapter and allow me to bounce ideas with as well._

_I do appreciate all types of feedback, it's the only way I know if you love, hate, or even reading this story :)_

_***  
_

Cuddy takes out her datebook from her purse and notes Jake's graduation date. She explains "I'll need to book hotel rooms ahead of time. All the area hotels gets book quickly during graduation week. Unless of course, you prefer to have your entire family bunking in your apartment."  
Jake shakes his head and replies "I don't mind the mayhem but I don't think Dad will enjoy sleeping in a sofa bed."  
Cuddy nods and immediately get stuck by a thought "I can't believe that you'll have your PhD at nineteen and your MD when you're twenty."  
"Yup! Remember Dad used to say that I'll be legally allowed to prescribe drugs but not purchase a beer?"  
"By the way, what's your dissertation about?"  
"It's on using open source software for building Bioinformatics foundation. Actually, it was a concept that I initially wrote back in Cambridge but I could never prove it since I don't have access to High-Performance Computing (HPC) resources."  
"They gave you access at MIT?"  
"Yes, my computer engineering advisor pulled some strings that gave me access to prototype technologies that are not yet available to the public. Using HPC resources and open source software, I was able to perform the 2-year work I did for Dr. Coulier's project in 2 months."  
"That's wonderful Jake. So, what's the delay with your dissertation?"  
"I want to make sure that my mathematical algorithms are correct so I'm running second sets of data and see if the computational model is identical to the actual results."  
"Is that why your Dad and I are getting phone calls from the Army?"  
Jake laughs and replies "sorry about that. I had a follow-up presentation of my dissertation to my thesis advisory panel a few months ago where I gave a prototype demonstration of my hypothesis. Somehow the Army Medical Research Institute got hold of the information; they've been deluging me with e-mails and phone calls wanting to know more about it. So, I played the 'I'm a minor, you'll need to contact my parents' card.'"  
"Well, the good news is your Dad is allergic to the word military so he pretty much hangs-up on them."  
Jake laughs and replies "only after he called and confirmed that I'm not considering joining the army. You should have heard Dad on the phone." Jake doing his best voice impression of his father "Son, you know what's worst than joining the military? Joining the army!"  
Cuddy shakes her head and says "just wondering, did you use that same excuse with the medical residency programs as well?"  
"I might have. Why?"  
"A hospital on the west coast just sent a case of Napa Valley wine to our house yesterday with an invitation to visit their hospital facilities. I was on the phone with your Dad for two hours last night telling him that I don't know anyone from that hospital."  
"So, Dad thinks you have an admirer on the west coast?"  
"You know, how your Dad gets when he's jealous."

***

_**May 2007**_

It's nice spring weather, sunny and the temperature is in the mid-sixties. Wilson joins House and the twins as they take their daily stroll on the Princeton campus.  
"Hey."  
House nods at his friend.  
"I just heard that Foreman is resigning. What did you do?"  
"I didn't do anything."  
"Ok, then why is he leaving?"  
"He said he didn't want to end up like me."  
"You don't want to end up like you."  
"Good point. Can I resign too?"  
"Nope, you have too many mouths to feed."  
"Lise can support me and the kids. I can be her trophy husband."  
Wilson rolls his eyes and replies "seriously House, have you tried bargaining with Foreman? Maybe give him a raise or something?"  
"How much do you think it would cost to make him want to be like me?"  
Before Wilson could respond, Ethan comes over and asks "Daddy, can we have some ice cream pwease?"  
House replies "I don't have my wallet. You'll have to ask your Uncle Wilson."  
"Uncwe Wiwson, can you buy us some ice cream pwease?"  
"Uhhh…" Wilson checks his watch and asks House "when do they normally eat their dinner?"  
"Around six. Why, do you want to buy us dinner too?"  
"No! Because I don't want to get yelled at by your very pregnant wife for spoiling their appetites."  
Ethan calls Charlie over and the two gives Wilson their best puppy-eye looks and begs "pwease Uncwe Wiwson. We won't get appwe pie."  
House corrected his kids "its appetite not apple pie."  
Charlie furrows his brows and asks "what's an appetite Daddy?"  
House replies "it's what makes you hungry or what makes you want to eat ice cream."  
Charlie looks over to Wilson asks "we have an appetite for ice cream. Can you buy us some please?"  
Wilson smiles and says "ok, let's go to the cafeteria."

Wilson looks over at the twins who are happily eating their ice creams and asks House "are the boys ready for their baby sister yet?"  
House nods and replies "I think so; they've been sleeping on their big-boy bed without a problem for a couple of weeks now. And Ethan has one of his dinosaurs watching over his sister's crib just to make sure that the monster doesn't get any bad ideas."  
Wilson laughs and says "I would have killed to have their awesome beds when I was growing up."  
"Ain't it something? We thought we'll have a hard time getting them off their cribs but after they saw their beds, they couldn't wait to sleep on them."  
"How about you? Are you ready for a little girl?"  
"Heh, it's just another pooping machine."  
"Right! I know Lisa is very excited."  
House smiles and says "yes, she is. I don't know how long the twins will stay in the nursery if she keeps adding more pink stuff on it."  
"So, Lisa still doesn't want the boys to sleep in their new rooms upstairs."  
"Nope. She's not ready for the boys to be by themselves yet. Instead, she wants the baby to stay in our bedroom."  
"And?"  
"Absolutely not! Now that the boys can get out of their bed on their own, they've been knocking on our bedroom for all kinds of reasons. Next thing you know, they'll be taking over our bed." House shares a few stories about the boys' antics so they'll be allowed to sleep on their parent's bed.  
Wilson laughs at House's stories. He can't help but be a little envious of what his best friend has. He thinks to himself "maybe, the reason none of my marriages work was because we're so caught-up with each other rather than someone else like a child." For one, every time House screw up something the boys' antic will always bail him out. Lisa will be laughing so hard that she'll forget what House has done.

***

_**Two weeks after**_

Cuddy is sitting in her office couch while House is massaging her feet. She asks her husband "will you be okay with Foreman leaving?"  
"Sure, I couldn't care less when he leaves."  
"Right! And the guy I saw spying through a newspaper during Foreman's farewell party with a green gravedigger cap and sunglasses wasn't you."  
"Nope. How would you know that their Gravedigger cap? There are lots or people who have green caps."  
"Because you bought the twins little version of those green gravedigger caps. Believe me, every mother will remember when their children comes home wearing those hideous green caps."  
"They're not hideous. They're cool and the boys love the Gravedigger!"  
"Seriously Greg. If you want Foreman to stay, talk to him."  
"It's his last day and it wouldn't make any difference. Name one person who would want to be like me, anyway?"  
"Your sons do."  
House smiles and replies "Aside from them."  
"Chase idolizes you."  
"No, wombat is an ass kisser."  
"Cameron thinks you're a god."  
"She has a crush on me."  
Cuddy stands up, kisses her husband and says "talk to Foreman."

***

_**Later that afternoon**_

A very fuming Cuddy walks-in at House's office and yells "I told you to talk to Foreman to convince him to stay. Not fire your remaining team members."  
"I only fired Chase. Cameron resigned."  
"What the hell is wrong with you?"  
"Nothing. They've been with me for three years, they've learned all they can, or they haven't learned anything at all... either way, it's time for a change."  
"You can't dump your entire department just because you don't know how to deal with an issue. They're good doctors Greg, un-fire Chase and woo Cameron back."  
"Sorry, you're in the wrong room. My name is on the door, my team, my decisions."  
"My building, my floor, my people."  
The phone rings and it's the daycare center calling to remind House that they're about to close. "If you're finish boss, I gotta go pick up my kids before my wife yells at me."

***

House gets up really early, turn off Cuddy's alarm clock and made breakfast. He went to the nursery turns off the baby monitor and wake the boys up.  
"You guys are ready to greet mommy happy birthday?"  
The two groggy twins nod their heads. Charlie jumps off his bed, grab his backpack and takes out the birthday card he'd made for his mom. Ethan goes over to his closet and pulls out a gift bag. The twins quietly follow their Dad to their parent's bedroom. House signals for them to wake their mom and the twins yells "Happy Birthday Mommy!" Cuddy wakes up to an attack of slobbery kisses from the twins. She kisses her boys back and says "thank you boys."  
Ethan gives his mom the card while Charlie hands her the gift bag.  
Cuddy asks "what do you have for me?"  
The boys simply giggles and replies "open it, Mommy."  
"Okay." She opens the bag and sees a sweatshirt that says "World's Greatest Super-Mom" in front and decorated with the twins' handprints and name at the back.  
Charlie asks "do you like it Mommy?"  
"I love it. Thank you very much," and Cuddy kisses her boys again.  
Ethan asks "are you going to wear it today?"  
"Sure…I'll wear it tonight."  
"Ok, can we go watch TV now?"  
Greg replies "yes, only for a few minutes. You both need to eat breakfast and get ready for daycare."  
The twins hurriedly jump off the bed and run to the family room.  
Greg follows them out and comes back with a breakfast tray. The tray has a plate of pancakes and scrambled eggs; a glass of milkshake, cut grapefruits and a single red rose.  
House approaches Cuddy and says "Happy Birthday my Queen!"  
Cuddy smiles at her husband and says "thank you my King."  
And after House set the tray in bed, both husband and wife start laughing. Cuddy's tummy is protruding so much that it's really not comfortable for her to eat breakfast in bed.  
Cuddy kisses House forehead and says "why don't I join everyone for breakfast in the kitchen, instead?"  
House nods and kisses his wife.

***

House and Wilson are playing foosballs at the doctor's lounge, when House asks "so, I heard you're taking over my wife's job while she's on maternity leave."  
"Yeah, after the fiasco of her last maternity leave, the Board simply refuses to hire another outsider. And of course nobody in their right mind wants the job of babysitting you, so I'm it!"  
"Oh come on, It'll be fun!"  
"As long as you don't come up with insane and dangerous procedures for me to approve, we should be fine."  
"Who says anything about actually doing work? Did you forget that I don't have a team?"  
"Well, good time to hire a team then."  
"Why will I do that when I can work on mastering Eddie Van Halen's two-handed arpeggio technique in the next 12 weeks?"  
"Oh, I forgot. Your wife just hired someone for your team."  
"It's my department; I get to choose who I want to hire. She better not rehire my old team behind my back."  
Wilson shakes his head and replies "She did better. She hired the same guy who helped you select your old team."  
House's face light-up and asks "she hired Jake for the summer?"  
Wilson smiles and nods at House.

"I'm very surprised. I thought he'd be staying in Boston this summer."  
"Why?"  
"He's scheduled to do his clinical rotation at Mass General next semester and I was certain that he'll jump at the chance to go on board a few months earlier. And of course, having that gorgeous girlfriend of his nearby would have been another good reason to stay."  
"Working with his old man for the whole summer is also a great reason."  
House smiled and before he can reply, his cell phone rings. He looks at the caller id, identified that it's Cuddy and answers it with "hey."  
Cuddy only said three words that sent House scurrying out of the lounge in no time.  
Wilson asks "what's wrong?"  
"It's Lise. Her water broke and she's now being wheeled to the maternity ward."  
"Ok, is there anything I can do?"  
"Yeah, depending on when she actually gives birth. I might need you to take the twins home."  
"Do you want me to stay at your place to keep an eye on the boys."  
"Lina and her daughter will be staying with the boys." After noticing that his best friend is a little disappointed by not being needed, House adds "but if you don't mind staying for a few hours and playing with the boys, I think they will like that."  
"I can definitely do that."  
"Thanks Wilson."

_**TBC**_


	3. Chapter 3

_**Author's Note:**__ A very big thank you to my beta Ceciilee, who again patiently went through drafts of this chapter and allow me to bounce ideas with as well._

_I do appreciate all types of feedback, it's the only way I know if you love, hate, or even reading this story :)_

***

On May 21, 2007, Cuddy and House welcome another addition to their growing **House**_hold_. Daughter, Elizabeth Katharine House was born at 7:12 pm, weighing in at 7 lbs, 3 oz (21 inches). She was named after her grandmothers: Elisheva Mara (Emma) and Blythe Katharine. Aside from being the only daughter in the House family, Lizzy also holds another distinction.

_**Begin of Flashback  
**__Cuddy feels the baby kicking directly at her bladder so she heads straight to her private bathroom. Shortly after relieving herself, she feels her stomach tightening and notices that her underwear is wet. She quickly realizes that her water __has__ broken and the tightening in her stomach __are__ contractions. She __times__ the contractions and as soon as she realizes that they're coming rather close apart, she immediately calls House, __who doesn't answer__. All of sudden she feels as if the baby is about to come out of her, she quickly grabs her cell phone and walks out of her office. Brenda catches a glimpse of her boss and immediately knows that something is wrong. Brenda instantly grabs a wheelchair and brings it to Cuddy to sit on.  
Cuddy smiles at Brenda and says "I think it's time, do you mind wheeling me upstairs?"  
"Absolutely __not__. Did you get hold of Dr. House yet?"  
"No, he wasn't in his office. If he doesn't answer his cell phone, can you page him?"  
Cuddy calls House and informs him that she's on her way to the maternity ward. She also calls Dr. Keeler to inform her that her water broke and her contractions are now two minutes apart. _

_Two hours later, Dr. Keeler calls to inform her that she's still stuck in a major traffic jam (due to a chemical spillage) on the main highway. After realizing that Cuddy is already 9cm dilated and Dr. Keeler is nowhere near the hospital, House immediately scrubs in to deliver baby Lizzy.  
__**End of flashback  
**_  
The following day, Wilson picks up the twins from their home and brings them to their mommy's recovery room. The twins greet their parents with hugs and kisses.  
Wilson asks "do you want me to ask the nurse to bring the baby?"  
Cuddy shakes her head and says "maybe in an hour or so. I think we need to spend time with the boys first." Wilson nods as he sees Charlie cuddle up on his mommy's bed and Ethan has his arms wrap tightly around his daddy's neck. Last night was the first night that both parents weren't home to tuck them in and the boys feel a little unsettle and insecure. Cuddy tries to reassure them that mommy and daddy love them. House adds that he'll be home to tuck them in that night. **  
**Ethan asks "promise?"  
House replies "I promise."  
Then smiles reappear on both the boys' faces.  
House asks "are you two ready to meet your baby sister?"  
The twins' eyes light up as they nod their heads furiously.  
On cue, Wilson announces "I'll go ask the nurse to bring her in."  
Cuddy mouths "thank you" to Wilson.

Shortly before the nurse brings baby Lizzy to the room, Nana Emma joins them.  
She brings the boys t-shirts that say "I'm the big brother" and teddy bears. She tells them to take care of their teddy bears like mommy and daddy will take care of the baby. Charlie's teddy is wearing green scrubs**;** while Ethan's teddy is wearing blue ones.  
As the nurse hands the baby to Cuddy, House and Emma carry the boys to see the baby.  
Emma moves closer so Charlie can get a closer look at his sister.  
Charlie reaches out to gently touch his sister's hands and asks "I wanna give her a kiss."  
Cuddy smiles and replies "okay, just be gentle."  
"Kay."  
Ethan on the other hand asks "can I carry her Daddy?"  
House nods and sits Ethan safely on the sofa, surrounds him with cushions, and places the baby on his arms.  
"Daddy, she's so tiny."  
"Yes she is. That's why she needs her big brothers to take care of her."  
Ethan replies "I'm her big brother Daddy."  
"Yes, you are."  
"You can only carry baby Lizzy when Mommy and Daddy are nearby okay?"  
"Kay."  
Charlie interrupts "I'm her big brother too. Can I carry her now?"  
"Sure, wait until Ethan is finish carrying baby Lizzy."  
After about fifteen minutes, Charlie asks "Daddy, does she do anything besides sleep?"  
"She'll be sleeping a lot but she'll wake up to drink her milk, or when she's wet."  
Charlie replies, in a perfect imitation of his dad, "boring."  
As everyone laughs, baby Lizzy opens her deep blue eyes to see her brothers staring at her.

***

Three weeks later, House and Cuddy drive up to Boston for Jake's graduation. They decided to make the trip by themselves since it'll be a too much to drag two toddlers and a newborn for the trip. Emma, Harry, John, and Blythe were just too eager to babysit for their grandchildren.

The couple arrives in Boston around 3PM, just in time to check-in to their hotel room. It's the very first time that Cuddy is away from her three-week old daughter so she's been calling home to check up on her (and the twins) every hour.

Upon entering their suite, House immediately throws himself on the huge bed and starts playing around with the remote controls.  
Cuddy is unpacking their clothes when she notices the pain on her breast; she immediately asks "Greg, I need to pump for milk. Can you finish up for me?"  
As House is putting away their clothes, he can't help but be in awe of how beautiful his wife is. After catching himself fantasizing about being the recipient of Cuddy's breast, he immediately excuses himself to check out the rest of the suite. As House enters the bathroom, he notices the whirlpool tub and yells "Lise, I think I'm gonna try the Jacuzzi."  
"I'll join you after I'm done here. Their tub is supposed to be a whirlpool and chromatherapy all in one."  
"Well, it's a big tub. It should be ready when you're done pumping."  
"Okay."  
The two enjoy their first tranquil moment alone since their honeymoon by soaking on the tub, and then continue their make out session on their luxurious bed. They underestimate their level of exhaustion and the two immediately fall asleep within minutes after lying in bed. They wake up about two hours later when Jake calls to inform them that he'll meet them in an hour.

At around seven o'clock, Jake meets his parents at the hotel lobby and the clan walks over about a block away to attend MIT's formal graduation dinner. The MIT's Engineering Department annually throws a formal dinner in celebration of its graduating PhD class. As Jake socializes with all his fellow PhD graduates, House sat next to Cuddy on their dinner table.  
"Greg, stop playing with your tie. See, you got it all crooked" as she reach over to fix his tie.  
"It's too tight, I can't breathe."  
"No it's not. You are just bored. Why don't you amuse yourself by quietly diagnosing everyone in the room?"  
Greg smirks and says "is this the biggest gathering of geeks outside of a Sci-Fi convention or what?"  
"Don't let our son hear you say that. He likes going to those Comic and Sci-Fi conventions."  
House just about spits his wine after hearing that his son is one of those geeks that he loves to mock. He looks at his wife and asks "seriously?"  
Cuddy nods and adds "yes, have you seen his Sci-Fi books, comics and toys collection?"  
"Yeah, but I thought he had those when he was younger."  
"Greg, he's only eighteen. Younger just means a few years ago."  
"Oh god! I have so much stuff to teach our eldest son."

***

_**The Next Day  
**_After the graduation ceremony, Jake and his parents drive back home to Princeton together.  
Cuddy asks Jake "how's Marie? I must have missed her in the graduation."  
Jake answers "she wasn't there. She went home to Switzerland for the summer."  
Cuddy replies "she did mention that she hasn't been home for two years. She probably just misses home."  
Jake just nods his head.  
House looks over to his son and pointedly states "so, when did you two break up?"  
Jake is very surprise by his dad's question and replies "huh. We're fine Dad."  
House interjects "you two had a fight that sent her packing. It's not about another girl since you're my son (_not Wilson's_), so it must be the big "C" word."  
Cuddy gives her husband a look that says 'stop it' and gently asks her son if it's true.  
Jake simply shrugs his shoulder and replies "yeah."  
Cuddy is concern and asks "are you okay? How did it happened?"  
"I'm fine Mom. We both have been very busy and we just never had time for each other."  
Cuddy puts her hand on her son's shoulder and says "I'm so sorry to hear that. How are you handling it?"  
"Surprisingly well. I know it sounds awful but I just feel like it's a load off my shoulder."  
Cuddy asks "what do you mean?"  
"Dad was right. She wanted more than I'm prepared to give. It was entirely my fault; I didn't pay attention to all the signs."  
Cuddy supportively says "Jake you're only eighteen. There's plenty more opportunities for you to experience love."  
House adds "or pain. Relationship is not a science. There's no textbook that will guide you through the minefield. Even geniuses screw-ups."  
Jake smirks and asks "like you?"  
House nods "especially me."  
Cuddy reaches over to her husband and says "you're trying your best and that's all I ever ask for."

"Greg, how did you know they've broken up?"  
"When Wilson mentioned that you've hired him for the summer, I became suspicious."  
Jake rolls his eyes and says "Dad, I've been working at PPTH for the past three summers. There's nothing unusual about that."  
"True. But when I was in med school and I had this gorgeous girlfriend, I immediately made plans to stay on campus for the summer. You know, to spend more time getting to 'know' her rather than spending time with my parents."

Jake laughs and says "unfortunately, I'm not like you. First- I love hanging out with my family. I've missed enough time being away from both of you and my siblings so I jumped at the opportunity to spend time with you all. Second- I'm not in the hurry to work 100 hours/week. I have a feeling that it'll be awhile before I'll even have a 3-month summer vacation again. Actually, looking at you both maybe it'll never happened."  
Both House and Cuddy smile at their son's response.  
Jake asks "Dad, you were referring to Mom as your gorgeous girlfriend right?"  
Cuddy smirks and replies "he better be, if he still wants to live."  
Jake laughs at his mom's response and asks "come one Dad, why don't you admit that Jason told you?"  
House replies "no he didn't."  
A puzzled Cuddy asks "who is Jason?"  
Jake replies "Jason is Dad's not-so-secret informant. I have it in good source that because of a strong recommendation from a world renowned Diagnostician, he'll be attending Princeton medical school this fall."  
Cuddy asks "the big football guy? You recommended him because he snitched on our son?"  
"How long have you known me? Do I ever do anything without a reason?"  
Cuddy shakes her head "I should have known better than to take your word for it."  
House replies "Oh relax, he graduated from Harvard. It's not like he's dumb or anything."  
Jake laughs and assures his mom "don't worry Mom. He's a good guy, saved my ass plenty of times."  
Cuddy looks over at House and says "he better be. I pulled a few strings to get him a full scholarship."  
Jake laughs and says "ah, I was wondering why he picked Princeton over Harvard. You got him admitted to Princeton on full scholarship?"  
House jokingly replies "since he did such a great job keeping an eye on you, I want him to do the same with the twins."

As they pull over the driveway, Cuddy excitedly gets off the car and says "can you two take care of the luggage? I'm going to check-up on the kids. Hopefully, they haven't worn their grandparents out."  
Jake asks "Seriously Dad, Jason told you right?"  
House shakes his head and replies "No, what's her name did."  
"Marie called you?"  
House nods.  
"When? Why?"  
"A few days after you moved out of her apartment, she called to inquire if I knew where you were staying."  
"You asked Jason and he mentioned that I was crashing on his couch?"  
"No, initially, he said he didn't know where you were, which you and I know was a lie. I just gave him a sad story about your Mom being pregnant and worried about you. He folded like a lawn chair."  
Jake laugh and adds "I know, he can't lie even to save his life. Good thing he's built like a giant or else people would mistake him for a sissy."


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note:** A very big thanks to my awesome beta _**Cecilee**_ for editing this chapter.

I do appreciate all types of feedback, it's the only way I know if you love, hate, or even reading this story ;-)

***

The grandparents are staying on until the weekend as they celebrate Jake's graduation and his nineteenth birthday, as well as House's forty-fifth birthday.  
House and his father have yet to speak to each other ever since their heated exchange almost 18 months ago. It seems being pain free for more than a year hasn't change House's view of his father. House's kids are quite fond of their Opa so they keep John preoccupied.

As House is giving the twins a bath, Blythe comes in and asks her son if he needs help.  
"Thanks Mom, we're fine. We finally have this down to a science."  
Blythe smiles and seriously asks her son "Gregory, I think you should talk to your father."  
"Mom, we've been through this. There's nothing to talk about"  
"Gregory, he has changed. He's trying really hard to be a good grandfather to your kids."  
House simply nods.  
Blythe continues "You should see him beam about his grandchildren with his buddies. He's really very proud of them. He will never admit it but he had his suitcase all packed and ready to go a week before Lisa's due date. He was so excited to see his only granddaughter."  
House is surprised by his mom's revelation but simply shrug his shoulder and changed the topic.  
"Okay boys, you know the drill" as he reach to unplug the tub drainage.  
Ethan pleads "five more minute, Daddy?"  
House shakes his head  
Charlie negotiates "two minutes."  
"One minute and off you go."  
Blythe simply shakes her head as she realizes that it will take awhile to undo forty-some years of animosity between her husband and her son.

As House waits for the twins to finish playing on the tub, he reflected on what his mom just told him. His mom and his wife have been gently nagging him to make peace but he just couldn't let go of his hatred for his father. His biggest concession was to stop preventing his children from establishing a relationship with their Opa. His thoughts are interrupted by the twins splashing water at each other.  
"Okay, your one minute is up." He grabs the towels, dries them up and they are off running to their bedroom. Blythe and Emma catch them in time to change them into their pajamas.

Afterwards, the family gathers around the living room as they listen to House plays the piano accompanied by Jake on the guitar. Ethan is sitting on his Oma's lap, Charlie is on his Nana's lap, and baby Lizzy is on her mom's arm. After the performance, the grandparents' read the twins their bedtime stories and tuck them in. Meanwhile, House and Cuddy bring the baby to their bedroom as Cuddy breastfeeds Lizzy.  
"Greg did you talked to your dad?"  
"No."  
"Shouldn't you to try to settle this…"  
House interrupt's Cuddy and says "just drop it. I don't want to fight tonight."  
Cuddy puts her arms around her husband's neck and says "I don't want to fight either but I just don't want you to regret not taking the opportunity to make your peace with him."  
"I won't regret anything. I have nothing to say to him."  
Cuddy shakes her head and replies "I just hope to god that none of our kids will be as stubborn as you are."  
House rolls his eyes and replies "speaking of our spawns, Jake has been asking a lot of questions about Hopkins. I think he might be leaning towards doing his residency there."  
"I thought he would pick Mass General since he seemed to enjoy his rotation there this past semester."  
House nods and adds "he asked if we can accompany him during his interview at Hopkins."  
"That's great. Speaking of interview, did you read through the brochures I gave you yet?"  
"What brochures?"  
"The pre-school information for the twins."  
"They all read like they we're written by the same person. Besides, it's pre-school. The only difference between the schools will probably be the taste of their paste."  
"First of all, they don't use paste anymore. They now use glue sticks and our boys don't eat them. Anyway, my top two picks are Princeton International because of the language immersion program and I also like Princeton Montessori since they have a good all-around curriculum."  
"I don't like the Montessori school. It's too big and they're too hang-up with the age categories. The boys will end up with 18-months old who are still learning motor skills instead of reading skills."  
"And you're fine with the International school?"  
"I want to check it out with the boys first before I'll commit."  
"Fair enough. I'll make arrangement with the school for a visit."  
"I'm surprised that Princeton Friends School didn't make it to your top two lists."  
"They don't accept kids younger than three and half, so the boys can't apply until next year. Dr. Michaels' kids go there and she suggest that we try enrolling the boys in their summer camp next year and see if they like their teaching style."  
"I can't believe we're discussing school options when they're only two and half years old."  
"There's only so much they can learn at the daycare center and when those two get bored all bets are off. It won't surprise me if the boys' start organizing strikes."  
House laughs at the thought of his boys raising havoc in the hospital daycare. Little Charlie already has a history of being sent home early due to disobedience and Ethan always backs up his brother so he usually gets the same punishment. House replies "their minds are like a sponge, they need to be constantly learning new things or they get bored. A challenging environment will be a good thing for the twins. How did you manage with Jake?"  
"Jake was a good kid. If Mom had to work, I would sneak him to my classes and to the library. He would just draw or color his book but little did I know he was listening to the lecture. I remember when he was around the twins' age and I had to drag him to my Immunology study group. One of my study partners asked what anti-bodies are. And Jake replied "they're molecule with a single, defined amino acid sequence."  
House smugly smile at Cuddy and asks "did your friends sat next to him during exam?"  
"I'm sure they would have if they could. Anyway, he was in pre-school less than a week before Mom was informed that the school wasn't equipped to handle him."  
"Do you think we'll have the same issues with the twins?"  
"I don't know. I honestly think Jake was just too mature for his age. Maybe, that's the reason I encourage his sci-fi interest. I want him to enjoy being young and I don't want the twins to grow up too quickly either."  
"Speaking of the twins, you need to let the twins sleep in their own room so the baby can sleep in the nursery."  
"Greg, they're not even 3 years old. What if they get scared in the middle of the night?"  
"Let them cry and we'll go visit them."  
"Right. Knowing those two, they'll try to come down at night and what if they fall down the stairs?"  
"What's the point of having three bedrooms upstairs if you won't let the kids use it."  
"I will let them use the room. Just not now."  
"When will you let them use it?"  
"Maybe when they're five?"  
"Absolutely not! They either move to their room upstairs or we're having sex anywhere in the hospital."  
"What do the twins moving to their rooms have to do with our sex life?"  
"Lise, we've been interrupted at least a dozen times."  
Cuddy is surprised by House's outburst and replies "I…I didn't know you felt that way. I'll make sure you get to finish next time before we let the twins in our room."  
"Come on Lise, its hard enough that we have to keep it quiet so as not to wake the baby. Now I can't even sleep naked in our own bed?"  
"Would you rather that I sleep upstairs with the kids?"  
"No! I want to sleep naked in my bed with my wife beside me. Is that too much to ask?"  
Cuddy looks at her husband and pleads "a couple more years and I'm all yours."  
"Does that mean we can now have sex anywhere at work?"  
"Not anywhere. Just certain places."  
"Like where?"  
"I'll think about it. It's not like I'll be back at work for another 2 months."  
A smile appears in House's face but he quickly hides it from Cuddy.

***

_**The following Week  
**_"Greg, wake up. I need you to watch Lizzy while I take a shower."  
House groggily replies "Hmm…"  
"Jake is watching over the twins right now. And don't forget that you're taking the boys to the daycare today."  
"Why?"  
"Remember, I'll have to take Lizzy to her doctor's appointment this morning?"  
Before House can respond, Cuddy hands the baby to him.

_Little Lizzy, as her Daddy refers to her looks very much like her mother. For a month old baby, she has lots of hair and her Mommy always places a clip on her hair to prevent her bangs from falling on her eyes. Speaking of eyes, Lizzy has her Daddy's ocean blue eyes and also has his stubborn streak. She will only go to sleep if her Daddy rocks her to sleep and only after Daddy plays her favorite song on the piano. Yes, Daddy's little princess' favorite music is "__Für Elise" and her other favorite is __Brother Ethan's rendition of "__Twinkle Little Star" on his toy keyboard._

House kisses his little princess' forehead and proceed to rock her while chatting with Cuddy.  
"Are they staying in the daycare the whole day?"  
"No, I'll pick them up at 2 this afternoon. Ethan has an appointment with a speech therapist at 2:30."  
House rolls his eyes and replies "he's not yet three, so what if he can't pronounce the letter L?"  
"It doesn't hurt to have it check. If there is anything we can do to correct it, I want us to be proactive about it. Did you notice that even Charlie is picking up on the fact that Ethan's calling the baby Wizzy instead of Lizzy?"  
"Charlie's just yanking Ethan's chain. Come on Lise, that's what siblings do. They pick on each other all the time."  
"Well, I don't want them to pick on each other. It affects their confidence and they'll grow up resenting each other."  
House raises his brows and asks "where's this coming from?"  
"I use to pick on my baby sister Rachel and she never forgave me for it."  
"You have a sister? How come I have never heard of her?"  
"She left home for college and I've never heard from her again. She sends Mom postcard every once in a while but that's it."  
"You think she doesn't keep in touch with you because you pick on her when you were kids?"  
"No, she doesn't keep in touch with me because she has never seen me as her big sister but simply as her biggest competitor. She always felt that I was Daddy's favorite girl and when the perfect daughter came home from college pregnant, she thought Mom should have kicked me to the curb."  
"Well, I'm glad Emma didn't or else I wouldn't have my beautiful family today."  
Cuddy smile and replies "me too, but I do miss Rachel sometimes."  
"Whatever happened to her?"  
"She's a photographer for the National Geographic Magazine."  
"Yeah? Does she know about your family."  
"I do send her birthday and Christmas cards every year. And I'm sure Mom tells her about our family but I just never hear back from her."  
"You sent your cards through Emma?"  
"No, Rachel has an apartment in New York."  
"Ever thought about visiting her?"  
"I did a few times but she's always away on travel."  
House nods and leans over to kiss his wife.

_**Later that day  
**_House is playing catch with Jake with his thinking ball when Wilson walks in and asks "could you guys at least pretend to be working or something. I'm scheduled to give a donor a tour of the hospital in a few minutes."  
Jake turns around and replies "sure Wilson."  
However, House throws the ball at Jake hitting him on the shoulder.  
"Ouch! What was that for?"  
"For not paying attention. What's the answer to my question?"  
Jake rolls his eyes and replies "its celiac disease."  
"Wrong! It's IBS. Very much like that guy behind you."  
"House! The answer is still no, even if you compare me with Irritable Bowel Syndrome."  
Jake asks "no to what?"  
"Your dad wants me to go with him on a day trip to New York."  
"What's in New York?"  
House replies "Top secret adult stuff."  
"I'm nineteen, I'm an adult."  
"You wanna watch a Broadway show?"  
"I'm sure you're not going to New York to watch a Broadway show."  
"You're right. If I was, Jimmy boy over there would have jump at that chance."  
Wilson replies "well, unlike you. I actually have real work to do."  
"I'll go with you, Dad" Jake volunteers.  
"No can do. I need you to cover for me in case your mom called."  
"Why do you need me to cover for you? Is it something Mom won't approve?"  
"Jake, you're sounding like the twins."  
"No, I don't."  
"Yes, you do."  
"Nuh-uh"  
"Uh-uh"  
Wilson simply shakes his head and walks out of House's office.  
"Seriously Dad, I'll go with you."  
House arches his brows and replies "I'm not sure if I can trust you with a secret."  
_**  
TBC**_


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note:** A very big thanks to my beta _**Cecilee**_ to whom I owe a big debt of gratitude. To ensure prompt updates from me, I will be experimenting with shorter chapters. As always, I do appreciate all types of feedback, it's the only way I know if you love, hate or even reading this story ;-)

***

"Seriously Dad, I'll go with you."  
House arches his brows and replies "I'm not sure if I can trust you with a secret."  
"Okay."  
"Just okay?"  
"Yeah."  
"You're not even going to beg or argue why I should take you with me to New York?  
"No, do you want me too?"  
"Seriously? You'll just accept anything I say?"  
"Yes, I respect your decision."  
"You are not even curious or suspicious?"  
"Of course, I am curious but I trust you. You're my Dad."  
"All the more reason to question my motive."  
Jake shakes his head and replies "okay, take me with you or else I'll tell Mom that you're having an affair."  
"That's the best that you can come up with?"  
"No, I have more. I'll tell her that you've been secretly seeing someone in New York."  
"What does she look like?"  
"Who? Oh, her! …pretty?"  
"Oh god! I can't believe you share half my genes. Starting Thursday, you are joining my poker game."  
"I don't like poker."  
"You will learn to like it. You know why?"  
"Because…you said so?"  
"Yes, but aside from that. It'll be good for you. You'll learn skills that they don't teach you at Harvard."  
Jake skeptically replies "somehow, I doubt it's a skill I'll need to be a good doctor."  
"No, they're skills you will need to be a great doctor. Reading non-verbal cues and detecting what people are hiding from you saves lives."  
"Yeah I know; because everybody lies, right?"  
"Damn Right!"

"Seriously Dad, you still want to go to New York for this 'secret adult thing' that you don't want Mom to know?"  
House sarcastically replies "no, I just like inviting Wilson for trips that I don't plan to go."  
Jake counters "I have a 'mom-approved' excuse to be in New York."  
"The Jimmy Choo Shoe store in Manhattan is having a sale?"  
Jake rolls his eyes and says "no, that would be a reason for Mom to go to New York. Come on Dad, stay with me."  
House replies with bore tone "so what's this 'mom-approved' excuse for me to be in New York?"  
"You can tell her that you're accompanying me to the Comic-Con next week."  
"What the heck is a Comic-Con?"  
"It's the Comic book convention."  
"Is this where sci-fi geeks dress up in costume?"  
"Some do, but I'm just there for the comics, anime, manga, video games, and toys."  
"I hope so, I'd have to disown you if I see you dress up in one of those Star Trek costume."  
Jake laughs and replies "you don't have to come with me to the convention. We can just meet afterward."  
"When is this again?"  
"Next Friday. The convention is the entire weekend but I only like going on the first day—it's less crowded."  
Before House can response, he is distracted by someone walking pass his office. He immediately stands up and walks out to the hallway to take a good look at the person.  
A totally confused Jake follows his father to the hallways and asks "what are we looking at?"  
"Did you see the blond guy with a pretentious accent?"  
"No, I didn't see a blond guy and I can't see an accent."  
"I could have sworn he looks like Cha…never mind."  
"Dad, are you okay?"  
"Yeah, I need to drop by Wilson's office first, and then we'll go down to the morgue. I heard they have two new bodies ready for us to checkout."

***

House had absolutely no intention of doing any work while Cuddy is on maternity leave. However, an exchange between House and Jake a couple of weeks changed everything.

_**Begin Flashback  
**__House was playing 'Grand Theft Auto' on his computer when Jake walks in to his office.  
"Hey Dad."  
House simply nods to acknowledge his son.  
"Got a minute?"  
"Sure. What's up?"  
"I just bumped into Dr. Carson at the cafeteria. And he mentioned that he has an internship position open."  
"And?"  
"Will it be okay if I transfer to Cardiology?"  
"What's wrong with your job here?"  
"Dad, I enjoy hanging out with and all but… all I've been doing is sitting around twiddling my thumbs."  
"I know tons of people who'll kill for this job."  
"Dad, I chose to come home for the summer because I want to work on cases with you. It's just my luck that your team quit before I even start. But if I get this job with Dr. Carson, I'll have __the opportunit__y at least work on cases."_

_House really didn't know how to react to Jake's comment. He feels a swirl of emotions all at once: Anger at himself, disappointment at his son, jealousy at Carson, and finally he feels a crushing fear of being abandoned again. It's only been weeks since his entire team left him and now his own son is requesting for a transfer.  
"So you think Carson is a better than me?"  
"No, I never said that Carson is better than you. I just want to make the most of my internship. If it's make you happy, then I'll go work for someone else. "  
"I don't want my son to work for someone else."  
"Why? You think I'm not capable or just not good enough?"  
"God no! You are 1000% better than me when I was your age. Why would you even say that?"_

_The mental image of his son feeling the same way he feels about his own father __gives__ House the chills. In a matter of seconds, House's emotions shifted from resignation to resolve—he cannot and will not give up on his son without a fight. He enjoys teaching his son and he'll do everything to make it work.  
"Jake, I'm your Dad. You're supposed to be able to tell me that you're not happy or you're bored. I just assume you were fine with the arrangement."  
"Dad, I'm not like you. I can't stand doing nothing."  
House nods and does what he knows best—he made a bet with his son.  
"If you are still bored in six weeks, I'll authorize your transfer to Cardiology."_

_Soon after their bet, Jake __is__ back to his old summer internship routine. Jake starts his morning scrounging the ER for interesting cases or it could just be an excuse for him to mill around a certain newly-blond doctor who made him promise not to tell his Dad that she's now working in the ER. It doesn't really matter what the real reason is, the important thing is…both father and son are happy. House gets to spend quality time with his son and Jake gets to learn from the best Diagnostician in the world._  
_**End of Flashback **_

As always, House enters Wilson's office without knocking and simply plops himself on the couch.  
"So when did you hire Chase back?"  
"You saw Chase?"  
"A few minutes ago, outside my office."  
"That's interesting."  
"It's more curious than actually…"  
"Chase took a job at the Mayo Clinic in Arizona about a week ago. Interesting... It wasn't Foreman or Cameron you saw, but Chase, the one you fired."  
"Not interesting. Someone who looked like someone I used to know walked by my office."  
"It's always interesting when a repressed guilt starts un-repressing itself."  
"The only thing I feel guilty for is this..." as he knocks off the cup filled with pens into Wilson's thrash bin.


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Note:** Again a very big thanks to my beta _**Cecilee**_. You simply rock!

***

_**Saturday Morning **_  
It's a typical Saturday morning for the House family_. _The twins wake up at around seven and immediately knock at their parents' door.  
"Mommy, Daddy the door is wock."  
Cuddy gingerly shifts on to her side, careful not to wake Lizzy who is comfortably wedge between her and House.  
As Cuddy reaches for her robe, she hears the twins knocking again.  
House groggily yells "go away!"  
Cuddy whispers "shhh…you'll wake Lizzy. I'll go take care of the twins."  
House grunts a yes and goes back to sleep.  
Ethan yells again "Mommy, I'm hungry."  
Cuddy opens the door and quickly shoos the twins out to the kitchen.  
Ethan argues "But I wanna kiss Wizzy good morning."  
"She's still sleeping. You can kiss her good morning when she wakes up, okay?"  
"Okay. Mommy may I have some pancakes pwease?"  
"Sure honey. Charlie would you like some pancakes too?"  
Charlie replies "No, I want spongebob."  
"You know the rule. No TV until you finishes breakfast."  
In a whine almost identical to her husband, Charlie argues "but Mooom…Jake let us watch SpongeBob while we eat breakfast."  
"Well, I'll just have to tell your brother that he's not allowed to do that. Now, would you like to have cereal or a yogurt instead?"  
Charlie folds his arms in front of his chest, pouts his lips and vigorously shakes his head.  
"Okay, you can sit there and watch us eat breakfast then because I'm not turning on the TV."

After Cuddy gives Ethan his plate, Charlie reaches over to grab a strip of bacon.  
"Hey, that's mine. Mommy... Charwie took my bacon."  
"Charlie! What did I tell you about taking your brother's food? If you want one, just ask."  
"But Mooom…"  
"Do not but Mom me young man. You know the rule."  
Charlie begrudgingly leans over to his brother and says "sorry I took your bacon without asking."  
Cuddy kisses Charlie's head and says "very good. Would you like your own pancake and bacon now?"  
"Yes, please. Mommy, I want lots of syrups."  
Just as Cuddy is pouring syrups on Charlie's pancake, her eldest son walks-in the kitchen.

"Good morning mom and you two."  
Ethan excitedly hugs and kisses his oldest brother.  
Jake looks over to his Mom for help as he realizes that Ethan gave him more than kisses.  
Cuddy smiles and hands Jake a wet paper towel to wipe all the syrups all over his left cheek.  
"Would you like some pancakes and bacon too?"  
"Sure Mom."

Jake is about to reach for the TV remote when Charlie starts talking.  
Cuddy tells Jake not to turn on the TV and tells Charlie not to talk with his mouth full. She achieves this while cooking with her back turn against them—definitely a feat only a multi-tasking super-mom can do.  
All three kids just look at her in amazement.  
Ethan asks "how did you do that Mommy?"  
Out of nowhere, House replies "because Mommy has eyes behind her back" as he wraps his arm around Cuddy and kisses her at the back of her neck.  
The twins' eye light up and asks "can we see it Mommy?"  
Cuddy smacks her husband in the arm and replies "it's not true boys. Daddy is just being silly."

She asks House "Is Lizzy still asleep?"  
House reaches over to grabs a bacon off the plate and replies "yes and I did put pillows around her this time."  
Cuddy gives her husband a dirty look as he just did everything that she told Charlie not to do.  
Jake asks "why? Did Lizzy fall too?"  
House replies "Of course not!"  
Jake tells Ethan "when you were about 8 months-old, you rolled over and fell off mom and dad's bed."  
Ethan asks "Did I cry?"  
"No, you didn't. You were more shock than anything else."  
"Did I have a boo-boo?"  
"No, thank god you fell on a pool of towels that your Dad left on the floor."  
"Mommy, you said we should awways pick up our towels from the fwoor. Did Daddy get in troubwe?"  
"Daddy is always in trouble when he doesn't listen to Mommy."  
Before House can response, Lizzy cries out for someone to pick her up.

***

_**Wednesday Morning **_  
The twins are playing in the nursery when Cuddy asks them to play in the family room instead.  
"Boys, can Mommy and Lizzy borrow the nursery for a moment?"  
"But mooom!" Charlie complains.  
"I need to change and feed Lizzy. Ask Lina to turn on the TV for you, okay?"  
Ethan asks "can we pway fort in your room?"  
Cuddy shakes her head and replies "sorry boys, Daddy had to work late last night so he's sleeping in."  
Charlie asks "can we play fort in the family room?"  
"Sure. Just don't make too much mess, okay?"  
The twins reply in unison "okay."

After feeding and giving Lizzy a bath, Cuddy walks out to the kitchen to check on the twins**; **instead she sees her husband rummaging through the fridge.  
She walks over, gives him a kiss and hands over Lizzy.  
House kisses his little princess and says "somebody smells good this morning?"  
Cuddy replies "yes, because we just had our bath Daddy." She leans over to her husband and slides her hands gently on to his forearms and says "I heard about your patient."

***

_**Tuesday night at 8PM**__  
The House family reading time is interrupted by the beeping sound of House's pager. House being House __looks__ at the message and __turns__ it off. Wilson being Wilson, __calls__ Cuddy to ask for House.  
"This better be good Jimmy boy. Thing 1 and thing 2 __want__ to know how dinosaurs say goodnight."  
"I'm sorry House. I know I'm taking you away from family time but none of the attending have the guts to call you for a consult."  
"Is the patient dying?"  
"Hmm…no! Why?"  
"Then it can wait until tomorrow."  
"House! He's a former patient of yours. The wife refuses to authorize any more treatment until you had a chance to look at him."  
"If I agree to come in, what do I get?"  
"How about feeling good for doing your job?"  
"Wrong answer! I'll talk to you tomorrow."  
"Don't hang up! Name your price."  
Wilson knows that he's going to regret this but it's the only way he'll get House to come to the hospital this late for a consult. _

_Twenty minutes later, Wilson meets both father and son in House's office as he hands them copies of the patient's medical records.  
Wilson starts "the patient was brought in to undergo treatment for sarcoidosis. After a round of corticosteroid treatment he suffered full paralysis."  
After a few minutes of digesting through the patient's record, Jake asks "Dad, isn't this the Monday sickness guy?" _

_About three summers ago, the patient came in the clinic complaining about his apparent 'Monday sickness'—he was always too sick on Mondays to go to work. Several doctors had dismissed his illness as mere hangover. When the patient heard about the world renowned diagnostician on staff at PPTH, he wrote a pleading letter for House to check him out. Jake took his medical history and convinced his Dad to check the patient. House was intrigue enough by his mystery illness and asked Jake to investigate the patient's drinking habit. Jake confirmed that the patient goes drinking with his buddies every Saturday night and he only consumes beers (no liquor or spirits). The patient also appears fine enough to attend church and do yard works on Sundays. When the patient's brother mentioned that one of their great grandfathers suffered the same illness but not as debilitating as his brother, House immediately narrows down his diagnose to genetic diseases. House diagnosed the patient as suffering from 'familial periodic paralysis.' He hypothesized that the increase in carbohydrate intake in the form of alcohol on Saturday nights could have resulted in increased potassium excretion, resulting in weakness on Mondays. He prescribed a potassium supplement, and it worked! The patient was able to drink his beer on Saturday night and go to work on Monday. _

_When the patient was brought in for his sarcoidosis treatment, they not only stopped his potassium supplement but put him on steroid treatment which increases his potassium excretion and caused his paralysis. _

***

Cuddy asks "did the patient pull through?  
House replies "yeah, he's fine" and proceeded to tell her about the patient.  
"How were the kids last night?"  
"The twins weren't happy that you did not finish reading time but they got over it after I promise that we'll take them to park this afternoon. Your baby girl, on the other hand, is another story. She simply refused to sleep and was waiting for you. She didn't go to bed until almost eleven."  
House nuzzles and kisses Lizzy's tummy as he playfully asks "did you give Mommy a hard time little princess?"  
Lizzy starts giggling and laughing.  
At no time, the boys hear all the commotion downstairs and decide to join them.  
Ethan excitedly yells from the stairs "Daddy! Mommy! Wizzy!"  
Cuddy asks the twins "where have you two been?"  
Charlie replies "in our room. Lina said we can play upstairs while she cleans."  
"Okay, I hope you didn't make such a big mess."  
Ethan gives his parents his best puppy dog face and replies "maybe teeny weeny mess."  
Charlie moves toward his Dad and asks "can we go to the park?"  
But before House can answer, Cuddy replies "later hon, Daddy has to go work soon."  
House and the twins complain in unison "But mooom!"

***

As always, I do appreciate all types of feedback, it's the only way I know if you love, hate or even reading this story ;-)


	7. Chapter 7

_**Author's Notes:**__ Special thanks to my beta __**Ceciilee**__,__ for continuing to do such an awesome job editing this fic._

_I also want to give a big thank you to all my loyal readers who take the time to review every chapter. I truly appreciate all your support and it encourages me to continue writing. For those of who've set up your story alerts, thanks and please delurk sometime and let me know what you think ;-)_

***

House is grabbing a snack at the vending machine when he sees a blonde Cameron leaving the clinic. He immediately heads over to Wilson's office.  
"So, what do I get for saving the patient last night? And what's Cameron doing here?"  
"Interesting. So you're seeing Cameron now?"  
"No. Not interesting because not seeing. Saw. What do I get for saving this hospital's ass again?"  
"Well, you place this hospital at risk all the time. It's about time that you return the favor. Where was she?"  
"In the lobby. I guess, a week off will do."  
"I can't give you a week off, which you already know, which means you're here because these visions are freaking you out."  
"She had blonde hair, why would I hallucinate that?"  
"Yes. Yes, why are you merging Cameron and Chase? We should find out before the next time you see her when she'll be black."  
"Mm-hmm, because, of course it's scientifically impossible for a person to go back and visit somewhere they worked."  
"No. But since she's not a dead cat, it is scientifically impossible for her to be in two places at once."  
"Physics joke. Don't hear enough of those."  
"She just called me from Arizona. She and Chase just got engaged. They even put an offer on a place in Scottsdale. Maybe it's not repressed guilt, maybe it's just panic. In less than two months, your son will be going back to school and you'll be alone again without a team."

"In about a month, my wife, your boss, will be back to work and you will have to stop pretending to be Dean of Medicine."  
"Very mature."  
"Don't change the topic. What do I get for doing you a very big favor?"  
Wilson rolls his eyes and responds "I guess, I can accompany you to New York. But it has to be on a weekend."  
"Sorry, I already found someone. By the way, I'm taking off on Friday."  
"What? Who? This Friday?"  
"Yeah, I'm taking spawn number one to some geekfest convention. You know? Father and son bonding stuff."  
"Oh, you're taking Jake to Comic-Con? That's awesome! You'll definitely get brownie points from Lisa."  
"Yeah, I'll do anything to get back into her pants."  
"After four kids, haven't you learn your lesson? Sex is bad!"  
"Sex is good. Unprotected sex produces money-sucking spawns, but sex with Cuddy is great. She practices yoga, you know, so she can do this thing with her…"  
"Enough information House! I don't need to know about your sex life with my boss."  
"Fine, but we both know you want to know."  
Wilson simply rolls his eyes and smiles while House laughs.  
When Jake walks in and asks "What's funny?"  
House replies "I was just telling Wilson that relative to its size, the barnacle has the largest penis."  
Jake replies "True. And the blue whale has the largest penis in the world."  
Wilson who is obviously amused by the factoid supplied by both father and son asks "so which animal has the smallest penis?"  
Both father and son reply in unison "common shrew!"

***

_**Friday  
**_House and Jake arrived in Manhattan around noon. House drops his son at West 34th Street, right outside of the Comic-Con.  
"Thanks Dad. Call me when you're near the Javits Center, I'll come out and meet you here.  
House looks at a line of people dress in various costumes and replies "and miss out on all this fun? No way! I gotta check this geekfest myself."  
"Seriously?"  
"Yeah, besides your Mom might ask a few questions so I better do my homework."  
"Oh okay. Then just call me when you're inside."

House drives a few blocks to the Upper East Side, enters a non-descript building, and parks the car. He walks straight to the elevator and pushes the number 8 on the console. As the elevator door opens, a well-lit hallway comes in to view. He knocks on room 803 and a petite blonde lady opens the door.  
She greets him warmly and asks "you must be Mr. Huis?"  
House nods.  
"Glad to finally meet you…Mr. Huis. Please come in"  
"Please, call me Greg. Thanks again for agreeing to see me at such a short notice."  
"Not a problem. I'm just happy to be able help you find an anniversary present for your wife. Please sit down and I'll bring out some of my photos of Mackinac Island."  
House sits down as told and eyes the blonde lady as she disappears into the hallway.

Rachel Cuddy is about the 5' 6" and sports a short blond hair. Although she posses a well-tone body, she isn't as well-endowed in both the bosom and derrière department as Lisa. House looks around to see if he can find more clues about Lisa's little sister. The loft is open and spacious with sweeping views of the city. The living room has a clean contemporary design with a sleek marble fireplace as a focal point. However, the place lacks warmth or any personality. The one word that comes to mind to describe the place is sterile—it's devoid of any photos as if she had just moved into the place and hasn't had time to unpack.

Rachel walks back to the living room with a couple of carton boxes. She lays them on top of the long glass table, opens the box to reveal stacks of photos and spreads them out liberally.  
She discloses "these are from my earlier works and I'm surprise that you like them."  
"My wife is a fan on your work."  
"Why Mackinac Island?"  
"My wife and I had our first vacation together at Mackinac Island, twenty some years ago. I think she'll enjoy owning photos of her favorite place taken by her favorite photographer."  
"That's so sweet. She's very lucky to have you for a husband."  
House smiles and replies "no, I'm the lucky one."

Although a world renowned photojournalist on her own right, Rachel is uneasy talking about her work. When House mentioned attending University of Michigan, Rachel recalls when her whole family crammed-into their old station wagon to make the trek from Boston to Ann Arbor.  
"My sister Lisa went to Michigan for her undergrad. She was the oldest so Mom and Dad wanted to make sure she got there safely."  
House instantly notices that there was no hint of hatred or jealously when Rachel mentions Lisa's name. He wonders if both sisters are still fond of each other, and what caused the rift between the two.  
"Is there big age difference between you and your sister?"  
"No, we're less than a year apart in age. She's very smart. She attended Michigan on full scholarship and graduated top of her class in Harvard Medical School."  
House stop himself from correcting Rachel that Lisa graduated second in her class but instead replies "wow! You must be very proud of her."  
Rachel replies softly "I am" with a hint of regret.  
"Well, you didn't do badly yourself. You're a world renowned photographer for the National Geographic!"  
Rachel smiles and replies "I can't complain, I have been blessed."

An hour later, House leaves the apartment with two 12 X 16 original photos and a full psychological profile of Rachel Cuddy. House learned two things: Rachel doesn't feel any animosity or jealousy towards her sister and the death of their father was the catalyst for her decision to walk away from her family. House theorizes that Rachel either blames herself for the death of her father or she considers herself unworthy of her family's love. House smiles as he realizes that he needs to dig up more information from Cuddy and Emma to solve this puzzle.  
_**  
TBC**_


	8. Chapter 8

_**Author's Notes:**__ Special thanks to my beta __**Ceciilee**__,__ for continuing to do such an awesome job editing this fic._

***

House drives back to Manhattan, and parks the car about two blocks away from the convention. He is greeted by a sign in the entrance that says "**For Trade and Press only**" and is informed that the convention will be open to the public later that afternoon. The security points to the long line forming on the south side of the building and says "the line starts in the South entrance and I heard it's already wrapped around the building."  
House follows where the security guard is pointing and immediately grabs his phone to call his son.  
Jake answers his cell phone and asks "Hey Dad, where are you?"  
"I'm at the north entrance. Are you in line to get in the building?"  
"No, I'm already inside. Stay there and I'll get you your credentials."  
"Okay."

House informs the security guard that his son is coming out with his pass.  
The security guard smiles and asks "you've never done this before?"  
"I can't say that I have."  
"Well, there are tons to see if you're into those kinds of things."  
Within minutes, Jake comes out with House's credentials and security guard wishes him good luck.  
House looks at the badge that his son gave him and asks "Press Pass for 'The Tech'?"  
Jake smiles and answers "yeah, it's MIT's newsletter. The organizer always sets aside quite a bit of passes for MIT students. The Tech's editor is a friend of mine so he hooked me up with some passes."  
House looks at his son apprehensively and asks "are they normal?"  
Jake laughs and replies "they're regular guys with extra-ordinary gift. Just like us, Dad. Just like us."  
House looks at his son in amazement as he realizes that unlike him, Jake has found ways to associate himself with people who embrace his gift. Growing up, House was always picked on by classmates who treated him like a freak and teachers who labeled him as a troublemaker because he called them out on their stupidity. While House developed this crass exterior to protect himself from people who are intimidated by his intelligence, Jake simply celebrates his uniqueness with people who appreciate him.

As soon as they enter the massive convention, House immediately catches glimpse of several interesting characters. He initially mocks their costumes but later takes over Jake's camera as he realizes that Wilson will never believe him if he doesn't have proof of all the ridiculous things he is witnessing—_especially, those scantily clad booth babes handing out promotional materials_.

House isn't only observing the various people in the convention but he's also paying a lot of attention to his son. He noticed that his son knows quite a bit of people in the Gamers' room and that Jake's face lights up when his MIT buddy hands him a special badge to the VIP room. House goes with his son to the VIP lounge where they chat with the likes of Stephen Colbert, Stan Lee, and others. House even poses for a picture or two with a group by storm troopers, and a Playboy centerfold. Since Jake already has gone through most of the exhibits, the two spend most of their time at the Sony Exhibit where they enjoy the new PlayStation 3. After it is announced that the exhibits will be opening to the public shortly, both father and son head out to the exit.

***

By the time House pulls up to the garage, the twins are jumping up and down near the kitchen door. Cuddy simply smiles at her boys as she finishes up cooking dinner.  
Ethan yells "Daddy, daddy, you got us something?"  
House smirks and replies "maybe."  
Cuddy sees Jake hauling three bags filled with stuff and asks "are those all for them?"  
Jake shakes his head and replies "just this bag. This one is for me and the other one is Dads."  
Charlie asks "what did you get us?"  
House replies "not so fast buckaroo, I have to ask Mommy if you two have been good today."  
Ethan immediately replies "I was a good boy, Daddy. I ate aw my veggies and I hewp Mommy fowd waundries."  
House and Jake look at Charlie, who is pouting.  
Jake asks "uh-huh, did someone got in trouble today?"  
Charlie pleads his case to his Dad and says "I try Daddy but it's just… so hard."  
House looks over to his wife to get a clue.

_Ethan, like older brother Jake is pretty easy going and has no problem following his Mom's house rules. He acquired his Mom's need for order and his Dad's dislike of change. Therefore he thrives in following Mom's rules because the steadiness gives him comfort. Ethan is a sensitive soul; he enjoys music and loves to keep people around him happy. He is extremely close to his Dad and simply idolizes __him__ in every way. _

_Charlie on the other hand is a rebel by nature; rules to him are either to be ignored or to be challenged. Unfortunately for Charlie, being Cuddy's son means he has to either curbed his rebellious instinct or get acquainted with the timeout corner. Charlie is the artist in the family; he loves to paint and ever since he was about two years old have been a force to be reckoned with when it comes to Play-Doh. House calls Charlie 'Mommy's Teflon boy' since he's such a charming rascal that nothing sticks—with a twinkle in his eye or smirk on his mouth, Charlie can melt his mom's heart into __a__ pile of goo. Cuddy is very aware of the little boy's power over her so she's been making an effort of sending him to the timeout corner (__or__ as Jake calls it 'kryptonite corner') before Charlie works his charm on her._

But when Cuddy simply gives her husband a smile, he knows that Charlie has worked his charm on his Mom again.  
House opens one of the bags and hands Ethan a giant Spiderman toy.  
Ethan gives his Daddy a big hug, a slobbery kiss and says "thank you, Daddy."  
House asks Charlie "how long were you in timeout?"  
"a very long, long time."  
"Did you say sorry to Mommy?"  
"Yes, and I help Mommy fold laundries too."  
"Do you promise to work really, really, hard in being a good boy?"  
Charlie nods his head vigorously.  
House hands him a giant Superman toy.  
Charlie also gives his Daddy a kiss, and says "thanks Daddy. You're the best!"  
House simply rolls his eyes.

Cuddy asks her eldest son, "Did you have a good time?"  
"Yeah."  
"And Dad?"  
"He was fine. He quietly mocked people and took lots of pictures for his show-and-tell session with Wilson."  
Cuddy smiles and asks "that covers about fifteen minutes, what did he do the rest of time?"  
Jake looks at his Mom suspiciously and asks "why are you asking?"  
"I don't know. I'm just curious."  
Jake laughs and immediately changes the subject. "Guess who I met at the comic-con?"  
"No idea."  
"I got Stephen Colbert's autograph and lots of my favorite illustrators."  
"That's wonderful, honey!"  
"Yeah! Oh, let me check my camera. I'm sure Dad took pictures of it."  
Cuddy smiles at the realization of how much her husband has changed. Although he's still the cranky but brilliant genius at work, House is simply Dad at Home—_the guy in charge of bath time and music hour. The same guy who after all these years, still needs to be reminded to pick up after himself and to take out the trash on Tuesdays and Fridays._

***

House and Cuddy are getting ready for bed when he asks "did you know that I got you something from the geekfest too?"  
"Oh really?"  
"Uh-huh and you'll have to wear it for me next week for our anniversary."  
"Oh god, I hope it's not another one of those butt-floss underwear again."  
House rolls his eyes and says "we went to Comic-con not Frederick's of Hollywood."  
"Are you sure about that? I couldn't tell with all those scantily clad women in those pictures you took."  
"Of course, I had to take pictures of them so I can show it Wilson" as House hands Cuddy a shopping bag.  
Cuddy opens the bag to see a tank top and underwear replica of wonder woman's costume. It's made of cotton so it's soft, comfortable and definitely wearable especially during hot summer nights. She leans over to her husband and plants a kiss as she thanked him for the thoughtful gift and adds "did you get yourself superman undies too?"  
House cockily answers "it's what underneath my undies that proves I'm superman!"  
Lisa kisses her husband again and replies "whatever, Clark Kent."  
House immediately turns serious and asks "do you know what day is today?"  
"Hmmm…July 13, 2007. Friday the 13th?"  
"In three weeks, Jake goes back to Med school and you'll also be going back to work."  
"I know. I can't believe I have been on leave for 12 weeks. I'm so glad I asked for a 15-week leave or else I would have missed on having this time with all our children."  
House nods in agreement and asks "Lise, what do think about packing up the whole family for a vacation?"  
_**TBC**_

***

As always, I do appreciate all types of feedback, it's the only way I know if you love, hate or even reading this story ;-)


	9. Chapter 9

**Author's Note #1-** _T__his chapter__ is dedicated __to my wonderful beta __**Ceciilee**__, you rock!!!. Congrats on doing great in your exams!_

***

"Lise, what do think about packing up the whole family for a vacation?"  
Cuddy looks at her husband as if he'd grown a second head and replies "with two toddlers and a 3-month old baby?"  
"Why not? Jake will be graduating from med school next year. This might be our last chance to go on vacation together."  
Cuddy nods and answers "you're right. I still can't believe that Jake will soon be a doctor. So, what's do you have in mind?"  
"What do you think about RVing across the country?"  
"Seriously?"  
"Why not? We can have the comfort of home with a kitchen, bathroom, and bed. And if we get tired, we'll check-in to any hotel along the way."  
"Do you think the twins can endure the long drive?"  
House smirks and replies "there's only one way to find out."  
"Jake has always wanted to go the Grand Canyon and Yosemite, but I never had a chance to take him."  
House leans over and whispers in Lisa's ears "now we can go as a family."  
Lisa nods her head and gazes into her husband's blue eyes as House gently touch his damaged right thigh and says "I didn't think I'll ever have the opportunity to do this with the kids and I want to make the most of it."  
Cuddy kisses his lips and replies "you will. The boys adore you and they'll always cherish the time they spent with you—whether it'll be in the backyard or at the Grand Canyons."

"So, you think two weeks will be enough? We can drive west and then fly home."  
"Two-weeks on the road? I've never driven cross-country before. Actually, one of my fondest memories is when I was younger was when Dad crammed Mom, Rachel, me and all my luggage in his beat-up station wagon to drop me off to Michigan my freshman year. "  
House smile at the fact that Rachel had mentioned the same exact story to him. He asks "what made it memorable?"  
"I think it's because it was the last time we were together as a family. Dad died a few months after and my drives from Boston to Ann Arbor were never the same after that."  
"And it was around this time that you and Rachel also stopped talking to each other?"  
"Come to think of it, yes. Sophomore year, I drove to Ann Arbor by myself since Mom had to accompany her to her freshman orientation at BU (_Boston University_)."  
"So, Rachel attended a local college?"  
Cuddy nods and adds "Rachel had her heart set on going to NYU (_New York University_) but after Dad died, Mom could only afford for her to attend an in-state university."  
"How did your Dad died?"  
"He died of a heart attack."  
"Did he die at home?"  
"Yes, thank god Rachel was home from school. Since Mom was away on business that day."  
"Did Rachel found him dead?"  
"He had collapsed on the floor and she called 911. Why the interest on how my Dad died?"  
"Oh I don't know maybe it has something to do with my four spawns sharing half your genes and knowing your family health history might save their lives someday."  
Cuddy smiles, walks over to the closet and pulls out a big old photo album. She gently opens it and shows House pictures of her family. There was a picture of Jacob Cuddy standing over his wife Emma carrying a baby. A picture of a beautiful baby girl whose curly top reminds House of his own daughter. House exclaims "god Lisa! Lizzy looks exactly like you when you were a baby."  
Cuddy nods in agreement and replies "I know."  
They see more pictures of little Lisa in various dresses and poses with her parents. Afterwards, there were slew of pictures of Lisa and Rachel with various relatives. House quietly looks through the album and asks "is Rachel your biological sister?"  
A shocked Lisa looks at her husband and replies "of course. Why would you even ask that question?"  
"What's the age difference between you two?"  
"She was a bit of an 'oops baby' so we were less than a year apart."  
"Do you remember your mom being pregnant with her?"  
"Yes, I mean no. I was too young but I do remember Mom being pregnant. What are you getting at Greg?"  
"There were tons of pictures of you and your parents when you were a baby and none of them show your mom pregnant. The only sign that your Mom was pregnant was when both of you were toddlers. I assume Emma suffered a miscarriage during that pregnancy. And Rachel doesn't look like your parents. Your dad has a typical Irish auburn hair and you got your Mom's dark Mediterranean hair. Where did Rachel's blonde hair come from?"  
"You think Rachel is adopted?"  
"Yes, and she found out about it and confronted your dad. Your Dad suffered a heart attack and Rachel not only blames herself for his death but feels she doesn't deserve to be part of the family."  
Cuddy's face turns red as she realizes that everything House has said makes sense but a part of her just doesn't want to accept it. She cries "stop it! Stop it!" as she pounds on House's chest and begins to sobs uncontrollably.  
House puts his arms around her and tries to comfort her by whispering "it's alright, everything will be alright."  
"Why would they hide this from me?"  
"Does it matter? Is Rachel less of a sister if she's adopted?"  
"No! I love her. She's my only sister."  
House holds Cuddy tightly until she stops crying. As they lay quietly in bed, a thousand thoughts go through Cuddy's head as she tries to make sense of everything.  
"Greg?"  
"Hmmm…"  
"You got all of these by looking at my photo album?"  
"Yes. Well, maybe I had a little help from talking to your sister."  
"What? When? How? Oh my god! You visited Rachel in New York?"  
"Yeah."  
Cuddy immediately sits straight and exasperatedly asks "why did you do that?"  
"Well, I wanted to buy you an anniversary gift that you'll love and…"  
Cuddy interrupts House "and you think turning my family upside down will be something I will love?"  
"Wooah…first of all, telling you the truth about your sister is not my anniversary gift. I came across it as a result of purchasing your gift. Second, you were the one who was perplexed as to why your sister doesn't speak to you. I did you a big favor by solving the puzzle and informing you of the truth. Third, what's the big deal? Every family has secrets. It could be worst; Rachel could be like me, a product of one of your parent's indiscretion. Actually, that might still be true. Fourth… I had a fourth one but it slipped my mind but you can be rest assured that it was just as brilliant as the others."  
Cuddy is left speechless with how insensitive her husband can be sometime but after House gives her his signature smirk; she's reminded on how sexy he can be too. She thought to herself, "there must be something wrong with me, he just said something crass and all I want to do is jump him." To hide what she's really thinking, Cuddy says "you are such a jerk!"  
"And yet you still love me. What does that say about you?"  
House leans over, kisses her and she returns his kisses passionately.  
As he lifts Cuddy's shirt, she hears a sobbing noise on the baby monitor.  
Cuddy shushes House and says "did you hear that?"  
House replies "no, you can't tease me like that and not ..." before he can finish his sentence, one of the boy's voices comes clearly over the baby monitor crying "Mommy, my tummy hurts."  
Cuddy kisses her husband and says "let me check up on Charlie before he wakes the others."  
_**TBC**_

_**Author's Note #2:**__ Please continue clicking the "Review this story/chapter" button at the bottom of this page. I do appreciate all types of feedback, it's the only way I know if you love, hate, or even reading this story ;-)_


	10. Chapter 10

_**Author's Note #1:**__ Special thanks to my beta __**Ceciilee**__,__ for continuing to do such an awesome job editing this fic._

Here's a special quick update for everyone as a thank you for your overwhelming response the last time ;-)  


***

_**The Next Day  
**_House and Cuddy stirs to the sound of someone knocking on their door, Cuddy immediately walks over to the bassinet to ensure that Lizzy isn't awake.  
Jake calls out "Mom, Dad."  
House opens his eyes and is greeted by Charlie's little feet on his face while Ethan is nuzzled behind him. Somehow House's romantic night with his wife turns into family snuggle time when the twins decide to crawl in bed with them.  
House yells "no, you cannot sleep with us too."  
Cuddy simply rolls her eyes as she opens the door to let Jake in.  
She asks "what's wrong, honey?"  
"It's almost nine o 'clock, I was just wondering why no one's awake."  
"We had a late night. Charlie was complaining of tummy ache and wouldn't stop crying."

House moved Ethan over so he can gently shift out of bed but instead wakes the boy.  
Ethan groggily wakes up smiling and says "good morning, Daddy."  
"Hey thing one."  
"Oh Daddy, I'm Ethan not thing one."  
"Yes, you are thing one and that boy over there is thing two."  
Ethan starts giggling and says "no Daddy, that's Charwie."  
Charlie slowly wakes up and takes a quick look around him.  
Jake sees him and asks "hey buddy, how are you feeling?"  
Charlie nods and reaches over to his brother who gives him a hug.  
House stands up and declares "Okay, I need to pee."

By the time House steps out of the bathroom, the boys have left their room.  
Cuddy asks "Greg, can you watch Lizzy for a moment while I call Mom?"  
House resists half-heartedly but takes his little princess from the bassinet. But instead of leaving the room, he sits at the nearby rocking chair so he can hear his wife's phone conversation.

Cuddy greets Emma "hi Mom, how are you?"  
"I'm doing good and you?"  
"I'm fine."  
"How's Greg and the kids?"  
"He's good. They're all good. Mom?"  
"Lisa, what's wrong?"  
"Mom, I have a question and I need you to tell me the truth."  
"Of course. What's bothering you, hon?"  
"Mom, is Rachel my biological sister?"  
After a few seconds of silence, Emma asks "why do you ask?"  
"I need to know the truth, Mom. Is she or is she not?"  
"I'm sorry, we thought it'll be best not to tell you."  
"Oh my god! How? When? Did you tell her?"

Emma goes on to explain that Rachel was her best friend Rebecca's daughter. Rebecca was 38-weeks pregnant with Rachel when she and her husband Bill died in a car accident. "Rachel was a fighter and it was short of a miracle that she survived. Rebecca was an orphan and Bill's parent wanted nothing to do with the baby so your dad and I formally adopted Rachel when she was just a few days old." "We never told you or Rachel because we figured it wouldn't make any difference. We love you both equally and we would have done anything for the two of you."  
"Mom, do you think Rachel found out about it?"  
"If she does, she never told me."  
"Rachel began shutting us out the day that Dad died."  
"She took your Dad's death really bad. She thinks it's her fault that he had a heart attack."  
"Is it possible that she found out about it and confronted Dad that day?"  
"How could she found out?"  
"Maybe the same way Greg found out, by looking at our old photos."  
"Greg?"  
"Yeah, you know my husband's addiction to solving puzzle. He dug in enough to put the pieces together."  
It suddenly hits Emma "oh my god! I need to talk to Rachel."  
"We need to talk to Rachel!"  
As mother and daughter hatch-up a plan to visit Rachel, House quietly slips out of the room with his little princess.

***

_**The following week  
**_House, Wilson and Jake are at the doctor's lounge watching photo slideshow of the New York Comic-Con when a very angry Cameron barges into the room.  
Cameron walks over to the sofa and confronts House "I no longer work for you so I don't have to put up with your crap"  
"Oh hi! I'm Dr. House, head of diagnostic and you are?"  
Cameron replies "don't play dumb with me. I know you told those homeless people that we're giving away free food at the ER."  
"Oh, so you work in the ER now huh?"  
"Yes, I have been working in the ER for the last three weeks. For someone who never misses something small, you missed something big."  
"You resigned three months ago, took you that long to find a job?"  
Thinking that House is interested in what she has been doing, Cameron smiles and replies "no, Chase and I took a couple of months off. Relaxed and visited his family down under."  
House simply cuts her off and says "love to chat, but I'm a bit busy right now. Unless you want to see the booth babes' pictures I took this weekend?"  
Noticing Cameron's embarrassment at his father's brush off, Jake immediately offers "is there anything I can do in the ER?"  
"Thanks, I'll take any help I can get." Cameron smiles as Jake accompanies her out of the lounge.

House turns to his best friend and asks "I didn't know acting Dean can re-hire all my fired staff?"  
"Chase and Cameron are good doctors and the hospital can use them."  
"I know they are, that's why I hired them in the first place."  
"So, you don't have problem with them working here?"  
"Does my wife know about this?"  
"Of course. I only offered Cameron the ER job after Cuddy sign-off on it. Meanwhile, Carson hired Chase after Lee retired."  
"Okay."  
"Just okay? You're not letting me go through the ringer?"  
House shrugs his shoulder and asks "what do you need? My blessing or absolution?"  
Wilson defensively argues "I did what was best for the hospital."  
"Jesus, Wilson. This is not high school, you do not need my permission to date my ex's."  
"I don't?"  
"Nope."  
"Just like that?"  
House stands up, takes the SD card from the TV and replies "yup."  
Wilson nervously places his hand behind his neck expecting House to hit him in the face or something equally painful. But House simply walks out of the lounge without a word.  
_**TBC**_

_**Author's Note #2:**__ Please continue clicking the "Review this story/chapter" button at the bottom of this page. I do appreciate all types of feedback, it's the only way I know if you love, hate, or even reading this story ;-)_


	11. Chapter 11

_**Disclaimer:**__ All rights belong to Fox and David Shore.  
__**Author's Note #1:**__ Special thanks to my beta __**Ceciilee,**__ for continuing to do such an awesome job editing this fic._

***

_**Two days later  
**_For the last two days, Wilson has been nervously looking over his shoulder just waiting for House to have his revenge. He finally gets it (_sort of_) at around 2PM when he receives a phone call from a motor coach rental company informing him that they've completed their credit check on him and they've finalized his reservation.  
Wilson immediately knows that this reservation has House's written all over it but is curious as to why. He inquires "just to be sure, could you repeat what I had specified in my reservation again?"  
The rental agent dutifully repeats House's instructions which included; a king size bed, master bath, kitchen, washer/dryer and Plasma TV.  
Wilson says "thank you" as the agent gives him additional information about the bus that he has rented.

Shortly after, Wilson enters House's office and says "just got off the phone with some dude telling me that the bus that you reserved will be ready for pick up next Friday."  
"Excellent!"  
"I know this is your twisted version of payback, but what the heck are you going to do with a bus?"  
"It's not just any bus, Jimmy boy. It's a luxury motor coach!"  
"Why do you need a luxury motorcoach? Are you throwing a viewing party or something?"  
"That would be a great idea, but for now I'm just taking the family on a cross-country road trip."  
"Oh my god! You know how much those things cost per day?"  
"Don't worry; I got you a great deal. Rent 10 days and get 4 extra days free!!!"  
"Wooa…wooa… 14 days? And why am I paying for your bus?"  
"Because you owe me one for saving the patient that one of your doctors paralyzed and almost killed, because you hired my old staff behind my back, because I have been covering for you whenever your girlfriend calls to ask for you. Should I continue?"  
Wilson simply rolls his eyes "Cuddy knew and approved of me hiring back your old team so, did she receive this House hospitality too?"  
"No, she didn't break the 'bros before hoes' rule."  
"Of course, how could I forget that I swore my allegiance to the 'He Man Women Hater Club'? By the way, is Cuddy okay with this cross-country road trip idea?"  
"Of course she's fine with it. Why wouldn't she?"  
"I don't know, maybe because you have two toddlers and a 3-month old baby?"  
"That will always be my dilemma: They're either too young or I'll be too old to go on a trip. It's a no win situation so might as well take them while I still can."  
Wilson looks at House suspiciously and asks "are you okay? Is there something you're not telling me?"  
"I'm fine you idiot! Jake will soon be graduating from medical school and we might not get a chance to go on a family vacation again."  
Wilson nods in agreement and adds "I still can't wrap my head around the fact that this time next year, there will be two Dr. House M.D."  
House smiles and replies "Yes, there will two of us. Maybe more if the other spawns grow up to be as smart as me. If not, they can just be deans of medicine" he smirks.  
Wilson simply shakes his head and asks "has Jake decided where he's going for his residency yet?"  
"He's leaning towards Hopkins. We're going to Baltimore next week; we'll drop the younger kids with my parents for a few hours while Lise and I accompany him to visit Hopkins."  
The two discuss more about Jake's career options and the possibility of convincing Jake to stay in Princeton for his residency.

Wilson offers "do you want me to house-sit while you and your family are on the road?"  
House looks at him suspiciously and asks "is there trouble in paradise again, Jimmy boy?"  
"What? No! Why can't I offer to house-sit for you without it meaning I'm having problem with my girlfriend?"  
House smirks and replies "A) because you've slept in your office at least three times this week. B) You haven't mentioned any sexcapades stories with your barely legal girlfriend in the past month. C) While you've been playing Dean of Medicine, she's been clubbing with her friends. D) All of the above."  
Wilson looks at his best friend in amazement and simply shrugs his shoulder in defeat.  
"Don't beat yourself up. At least you got great sex out of it."  
"Thanks."  
"If you want my opinion, next time hire a hooker. They're cheaper and it doesn't even come with the guilt."  
Wilson rolls his eyes, and reluctantly asks "you still use hookers?"  
"No, I'm not that stupid. Why do you ask?"  
"Hmm…nothing. Cuddy mentioned that you kept your old apartment."  
"Yeah I did. Why? Did she say anything to you about it?"  
"No, she just mentioned it and said that you'll sell it only when you're ready."**  
**"Ready for what?"  
"To let go of your old life and take a chance on her, and…and your family."  
"She thinks I'm keeping the apartment because I'm hedging my bet that our marriage will fail?"  
Wilson shrugs his shoulder and asks "why are you keeping it?"  
"Aside from the fact that it has a cool address, I thought it would be a great place for Jake. Someday he might want it."  
"Why don't you tell that to Cuddy?"  
"I will. I didn't know that it bothered her. When did she mentioned this to you?"  
"A few months ago. I had dropped off some paperwork for her to review and one of your old neighbors had called to inform you about the flooding in one of the adjacent units."  
House simply nods and, changing the subject, says "if you need a place to stay, you're welcome to bunk in our guestroom."  
"That would be awesome! Thanks House."

***

House leans against the wall towards the entrance of the kitchen watching his wife clean the counter. He has just finished rocking his little princess to sleep. By the time he placed Lizzy in her crib, the twins were already sound asleep in their bed.  
He calls "hey."  
Cuddy is startled by his voice "god, you scared me. How long have you been standing there?"  
"Long enough to know that you've clean the counter twice."  
"I'm sorry, I must have space out."  
"Is everything okay?"  
"Yeah, I…was just thinking about Rachel."  
House walks closer to Cuddy, lifts her face and asks "wanna talk about it?"  
"I was trying to remember why I missed all the signs. I wasn't there when she needed me the most."  
"You couldn't have known. You lost your Dad too. You had enough stuff on your plate—like pre-med classes and a super hot boyfriend."

Cuddy smiles at the last one and adds "we did start hanging out around that time."  
"You think? We had our first fight and make-up sex the night you came home from your Dad's funeral."  
"Who wouldn't be angry? I came home from an exhausting drive only to catch my boyfriend flirting with my roommate."  
"First of all, answering your roommate's question about her biology homework doesn't equal flirting. I was more than just a supportive boyfriend; I helped you relieved all the tension in your body that night. Actually, I distinctly remember earning the nickname of 'marathon man'"  
Cuddy pulls House shirt, kisses him on the lips and taunts him "okay Mr. Marathon Man, do you still have it in you?"  
"Is there any doubt that I still have it?"  
Cuddy teasingly replies "I don't know. I could have sworn you're now Mr. Sprint Man."  
House defensively answers "I had to adjust given the number of times we have been rudely interrupted by the rugrats."  
"Really? The kids are all in bed and I'm all yours."  
"Let's go," he grabs her by the waist towards their bedroom, "but just so you know I'm armed and dangerous."  
"Well,' she smile at the sight of a significant bulge on his crotch, 'let me be the judge of that!"  
_**TBC**_

_**  
**__**Author's Note #2:**__ As always, I do appreciate all types of feedback, it's the only way I know if you love, hate or even reading this story ;-)_


	12. Chapter 12

_**Author's Note #1:**__ Special thanks to my beta __**Ceciilee,**__ for continuing to do such an awesome job editing this fic._

***

After a mini-marathon of lovemaking, House lays on his back a little out of breathe.  
"So, do I still have it or what?"  
Cuddy smiles and says "not bad, not bad at all. If I didn't know any better, I'd say you've been practicing."  
"Not as often as I would like to, but I have been able to sneak in a few every now and then."  
Cuddy leans over, kisses her husband and says "I love you very much Dr. Gregory House."  
"I love you too Mrs. Gregory House. Wanna do another round before any of the rugrats wakes up?"  
Cuddy gingerly smacks him on the arm and replies "as tempting as the offer may be, I need my beauty sleep."  
"But, I don't have to go to work tomorrow."  
"I know. Unfortunately, I don't get an off from being a Mommy. Our kids still need to be fed, bathe and taken care of."  
House pouts for a minute and asks "when will Lina be back from vacation?"  
"Greg, she just left last week. She won't be back until we get back from our vacation."

"Hmmm…by the way, I invited Wilson to stay with us until he finds a new place."  
"Girlfriend problems again?"  
House nods his head.  
"I really hope he finds a nice woman soon."  
"Speaking of Wilson… that little birdie told me that you had a problem with me keeping my old apartment."  
Cuddy immediately tense up and unconvincingly denies "no, I don't. It's your apartment; you can do as you please with It."  
"Your mouth says no, but your body language proves otherwise."  
"Greg, I know that apartment means a lot to you and it's hard to let go of your past. I'll wait until you're ready."  
"Four kids, rings on our fingers, and you still think I'm not ready?"  
"Why are you keeping the apartment other than to hold on to your past?"  
"Besides the fact that it has a cool address and it's already paid for? I want Jake to have it if he decides to work with his old man permanently, someday."  
Cuddy smiles at her husband because she knows that it's the closest thing to him saying that he loves his son and he wants Jake to work for him after his residency.  
Cuddy asks "so, all of this is for Jake and none of it is about you wishing you have your old life back?"  
"Jesus woman! What do I have to do to convince you that I'm here for the long haul?"  
"I don't know. Maybe, tell me that I'm the love of your life everyday of the week."  
House rolls his eyes, gingerly climbs on top of Cuddy and whispers "I'll do better. How about if I demonstrate that you're the love of my life everyday of the week?"  
"Shut up and just show me!"

***

Cuddy wakes up to the smell of waffle and Canadian bacon cooking from the kitchen. She reaches over and notices that the space next to her is empty. She takes a peek at the alarm clock and bolts-up immediately after noticing that it's almost nine o'clock. She heads straight to the bathroom to relieve herself and brushes her teeth. By the time she comes out, she sees House cooking breakfast and all her boys sitting around the breakfast table.  
Cuddy walks over and asks her husband "did you turn off my alarm?"  
"Yeah, thought you might wanna sleep-in this morning."  
She leans over, kisses her husband and says "thank you."  
The twins are facing towards the kitchen so they immediately notice her and yell "Mommy, Mommy!"  
Jake who's carrying little Lizzy, turns around and greets his Mom "good morning."

Cuddy sees the food on the counter and says "wow that looks good. What's the occasion?"  
Ethan excitedly hands her a card and says "happy ansary, Mommy!"  
Charlie corrected his brother and says "no, it's anersary."  
Jake smiles at the twins and add "I think they're trying to tell you happy anniversary."  
"Well, thank you very much boys. I greatly appreciate the card and the greetings."  
Ethan asks "Mommy, Daddy said you have a surprise for us?"  
Cuddy looks over to her husband and mouths "what?"  
House carries the plate of waffles and Canadian bacon to the table. He begins with "well, Mom and I would like to let you all know …"  
Jake interrupts "oh no, is Mom pregnant again?"  
Ethan claps his hands and says "more babies."

House instantly reply "hell no!"  
The twins simultaneously yell while wagging their little fingers "Uh-uh, Daddy said a bad word."  
Cuddy places her arms around House shoulder and whisper "I think you have dug enough holes, let me take this."  
"What Daddy meant to say is we're going on a vacation. It'll be unlike any other vacation we've taken since we'll be driving across the country."  
Jake animatedly reply "cool! We're going on a road trip."  
Charlie asks "where are we going?"  
House answers "we're going to lots of places. We'll visit several National parks, do a little camping and fishing."  
"Are we getting an RV?" asks Jake.  
"Better, I got us a luxury motor coach. It'll be a house on wheels."  
Ethan asks "we're going to put wheels on our house?"  
Cuddy kisses her son and says "no, we're getting a bus that has a little kitchen, bathroom, and bed inside. It'll be our house while we're on the road."  
Charlie asks "are we leaving now?"  
"Not quite. We leave next week."  
Jake worriedly asks "I thought you were both coming with me to Hopkins next week."  
"Yeah, the first leg of our trip will be Baltimore. We can leave the little ones with your Oma and we'll drive to Hopkins."  
"Okay, will we have time to prepare?"  
House replies "Mommy will be in charge of making a list of what we'll need for the trip. You and I will come up with our itinerary for the next 14 days."  
The twin asks in unison "what about us? What are we in charge of?"  
Cuddy replies "well, you probably need to decide which toys you will be taking to the trip. You can only bring two small toys or one big one since we'll be flying home."  
Ethan worriedly asks "can I take my piano and my Spiderman?"  
"Hon, they're both big and bulky. You'll have to pick one?"  
Ethan is already at the brink of crying from having to choose between his two beloved toys when Charlie tells him "ask Lizzy to take Spiderman and just borrow him at night."  
Cuddy shakes her head upon realization that Charlie definitely got his Daddy's renegade genes.

Ethan asks "will we be visiting Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck again?"  
Cuddy looks at her husband and reply "well, if we get to California early maybe we'll visit Disneyland."  
"Will we ride the big boat again?"  
"No, we're not going on a cruise this time. But maybe we'll find a lake where we can do a little boating."  
House asks the twins "go get your map and I'll show you where we're going."  
The twins hurriedly run up to their room to retrieve their map book.

Jake asks "is this why Nana is flying over this weekend?"  
House immediately replies "no!"  
Cuddy gives her husband the dagger looks and answers "no, Nana's not coming with us on our road trip. She's accompanying me to New York this weekend."  
"What's in New York?"  
"We're visiting my sister, your Aunt Rachel."  
"You have a sister? I have an Aunt Rachel?"  
House interrupts, "speaking of Rachel, here's my anniversary gift."  
He hands her a large framed. As she rips the brown paper from the framed, it reveals a beautiful picture of the front porch of the Grand Hotel. Cuddy looks at House and says "it's the Grand Hotel at Mackinac Island."  
"Yes, I bought it in memory of our first vacation together."  
Cuddy chokes up recalling their last vacation before House left for his residency. "Your Dad convinced me to stay on campus that summer. He got me a job as a medical assistant at St. Joe's where he was finishing his last semester of clinical. After finishing our stint at the hospital, we decided to enjoy the end of summer with a trip to Mackinac Island. Back then, we couldn't afford to stay as guests at the Grand Hotel; so instead we sat at the front porch to watch the sun set over Lake Huron."  
Jake smiles and asks "We should add Mackinac island in our itinerary, Dad? Maybe splurge a little and actually check-in at the Grand Hotel this time around?  
House nods in agreement.

_**Author's note #2: **__Jake was born on June 11, 1988, which means he was conceived during his parent's first vacation trip to Mackinac Island.  
__**Author's Note #3:**__ Please continue clicking the "Review this story/chapter" button at the bottom of this page. I do appreciate all types of feedback, it's the only way I know if you love, hate, or even reading this story ;-)_


	13. Chapter 13

_**Author's Notes: **__Again, special thanks to my beta __**Ceciilee,**__ for continuing to do such an awesome job!_

Anyway, I decided to play around with the format of this chapter and present it like 'a day in the life of Daddy House'. If you click on my profile, I also added a link to a picture of the kid's Dr. Seuss shirt, as well as a view from the Grand Hotel's front porch that I mentioned last chapter. Please let me know if you like me to continue adding links to pictures.

_***_

_**Thursday 8:30AM  
**_Cuddy is towel drying her hair when she sits by the bed and asks House "Greg, could you take the twins to work today?"  
A groggy House answers "hmmm…why?"  
"I have so many errands to run today and it'll be much easier without having to drag three kids with me."  
"What errands?"  
"First, I need to take the car to the dealer for maintenance service, and then I need to do some grocery shopping. Also, I have to pick-up mom at the airport."  
"Emma is arriving today?"  
"Yes, why?"  
"I told Wilson he could have the guestroom."  
"Oh don't worry. Mom won't mine sleeping in the twins' room for a night."  
"When are you two leaving for New York?"  
"Tomorrow morning. Remember, I'm taking Lizzy but you'll have the twins."  
"Why do you have to go New York? Why can't you just call her?"  
"Greg, we've been through this. Mom and I need to be there, near Rachel."  
"Why do you have to be there for so long?" he pouts a little.  
"Two days is not long."  
"Yes it is. That's two nights that Mr. Happy will be lonely."  
Cuddy smiles and replies "I think Mr. Happy has had more than enough fun for the last two nights."  
House smirks at the thought of the last two nights and concedes "when will you be back?"  
"We should be back by Sunday morning. And Greg, don't forget to take Ethan to his speech therapy session at two this afternoon."

***

_**10:30AM  
**_House walks in the hospital with the twins in tow. He's holding Ethan's hand to his right and Charlie to his left. The twins are wearing red Dr. Seuss t-shirts with a white circle in the middle of their chest that say "thing 1" on Ethan's and "thing 2" on Charlie's. Like their Dad, the twins are sporting blue jeans, Nike Shox shoes and backpacks.  
It's definitely a sight to behold as it isn't often that the PPTH staff is privy to see the softer side of the curmudgeon diagnostician. It is obvious for the world that these boys do not consider him the rude diagnostician everybody else sees; they're completely comfortable holding his hand and trust him to take them in the right direction without deceit. Of course, the boys are stopped several times along the way by staff complimenting on how adorable they are. While House simply rolls his eyes, the twins politely smile and thank everyone.  
When the three finally arrive in House's office, they are welcome by a very surprised Jake.  
"Hey, thing 1 and thing 2. What brought you two here?"  
The twins excitedly hug their big brother.  
Jake looks at his Dad for answer and receive a cryptic response "Mom has errands to run, she'll pick them up later this afternoon."  
House drops his backpack and heads straight to the coffeemaker.  
"So, you got anything for me?"

Jake like the little boys is not intimidated by his Dad's bluntness. While others would believe House to be rude because he didn't say hello, Jake knows that polite conversation is not part of his Dad's DNA. So, he answers "No, Cameron wasn't in the ER when I went down. However, Wilson dropped by and seemed to have something urgent he wants to talk to you about" and moves on.  
House nods and replies "I'll go talk to Wilson. Keep an eye on the two."  
House points to Charlie and says "especially that one. He thinks he's Houdini."  
"I'm not who-dee-nee, Daddy, I'm Charlie House. "  
Charlie smiles innocently because to him and Ethan, Daddy is always saying the funniest things.  
Jake asks "they're not going to the daycare?"  
"Nope, the daycare is understaffed this week. Mom didn't give them enough notice. Something about, they need to double their staff to accommodate these two troublemakers."  
The twins look at each other and start laughing, and are join by Jake.  
"You're funny Daddy," the twins declare while laughing at their Daddy.

***

_**10:45AM**_**  
**The twins are busy coloring their books when Cameron enters the conference room.  
She immediately notices the twins and greets them "hey Ethan and Charlie!"  
Ethan looks up, smiles and greets her "Hi Camster!"  
"You remembered me?"  
Ethan nods and replies "yes, you're one of the duckwing."  
"Oh…yes, I used to work for your Dad."  
Charlie adds "my Daddy says you have the hots for him. And my brother Jake has the hots for you."  
Ethan, "but Daddy says he only has the hots for Mommy's zesty bod."  
Jake immediately interrupts "Allison, I'm sorry about that." He shrugs his shoulder and apologetically adds "kids?"  
"Actually, they're very…insightful."  
"What can I do for you, Dr. Cameron?"  
"I have a case for you and your Dad. Patient was brought in the ER last night with..."

***

**_11:35AM_**  
House orders two slices of Pizza, fries, Rueben sandwich (_without pickles_), diet coke and two milks. He looks over to the cashier and says "Dr. Wilson will take care of my lunch."  
Wilson who is behind House simply nods to the cashier.  
Although the twins are sitting at a nearby table and within clear sight, House insisted that Jake sits with them until he gets back.  
Once he arrives to the table, he hands the twins their pizza, the fries and their milks. House gives Jake a nod signaling that he can go and have lunch with his friends.  
After seeing what their Dad bought them for lunch, the twins' eye almost pop-out since their Mom doesn't let them eat pizza and fries that often.  
Charlie excitedly says "thank you" and begins eating the fries.  
Meanwhile, Ethan gets down from his seat and whispers to his Dad "Mommy doesn't like us eating junk food."  
"Do you see Mommy around?"  
Ethan looks around and answers "no."  
"When you're with Mommy, you follow Mommy's rules. But when you're with Daddy, no rules."  
Charlie smiles and repeats "no rules!"  
Ethan anxiously look at his Dad "we're going to be in big trouber."  
House replies "nobody is going to be in trouble. You know why?"  
Charlie and Ethan both shake their heads.  
House answers his own question "because Mommy will not know."  
At this time, Wilson joins the table. He simply rolls his eyes at House' statement, but before he can say anything hears Ethan declares "Mommy knows everything."  
Wilson smiles at Ethan and gives House a 'he told you' look.  
House is about to reply when Charlie agrees with his brother and says "yeah, everything and Mommy cuts our food into little pieces."  
Wilson nods and says "I can do that for you."  
House interjects and says "no! Eat your pizza like real men."  
Charlie asks "how does a real man eat a pizza, Daddy?"  
"Pick it up with your hands and make a real mess."  
Charlie smiles and eagerly follows his Dad.  
Ethan looks at his brother in horror and politely asks Wilson "may I have a yogurt and carrot sticks, please?"  
Wilson smirks and replies "of course, why don't you come with me so you can pick what yogurt flavor you like?"  
"Thank you Uncwe Wiwson."  
"You are very welcome. I think your Mommy would be very proud of you."  
House rolls his eyes and says "brownnoser!"

***

_**3:05PM**_**  
**House takes Ethan by the hand after his speech therapy session and says "we're going to the clinic so Daddy can examine your ears, okay?"  
"Kay."  
House walks over to the nurse station and asks Brenda "I need an exam room."  
Brenda gives Ethan a smile and points to exam room two while giving House a dirty look.  
House picks up his son and places him on the exam table.  
He retrieves a black instrument from the drawer and asks Ethan "do you know what this is?"  
Ethan shakes his head and asks "what is it Daddy?"  
"This is an otoscope, I'll be placing this in your ear to see if your ear is fine."  
"Kay. Can I hold it Daddy?"  
House hands the otoscope to his son and explains to Ethan how the light and the small magnifying glass in the instrument will help him see what's inside Ethan's ears.  
House asks "are you ready?"  
Ethan nods his head and House starts the examination.

About half-hour later, both father and son leave the exam room.  
On their way to the elevator, they see a group of nurses and staff gathered around Cuddy and the baby.  
Ethan immediately yells "Mommy, Lizzy."  
Cuddy is not only excited to hear her son's voice but also the realization that it's the first time that Ethan has pronounced Lizzy's name correctly.  
She picks up her son up and gives him a kiss.  
"Daddy just fixed my ear Mommy."  
Cuddy immediately glances up to her husband to silently inquire what has just happened.  
Brenda, who's carrying Lizzy immediately, notices that the little girl starts kicking and cooing to get her Daddy's attention. She hands Lizzy to House and lightheartedly says "I don't know why, but your baby girl seemed excited to see you."  
House being House gives Brenda a dirty look before whispering "did you miss Daddy?" to his daughter's ears. As Lizzy starts touching her Daddy's face, and once the two are face to face, nose to nose, the surrounding staff sees a sight they don't see often—_a smiling House_.

On their way up to his office, House explains that while examining Ethan's ear he saw a huge chunk of wax across his son's ear canal. He squirted warm water into the ear canal to flush the wax out. That seems to have cured Ethan's speech problem.  
Cuddy asks "how did that happened? I always clean their ears after every bath."  
"Actually, overzealous cleaning with cotton buds pushes wax further down the ear canals."  
"Oh god! How do we prevent this?"  
"We might need to use a wax-softening drops or oils such as Debrox or Murine twice a week."  
"He's not even three, how can he have that much wax build-up?"  
"Ethan just produces excessive wax and as long as it's not blocking off the ear canal, I wouldn't worry about it."

***

_**6:35PM**_**  
**Wilson is unpacking his suitcases when Ethan walks in the guestroom.  
Ethan says "hi Uncle Wilson!"  
"Oh, hey Ethan!"  
"What are you doing?"  
"I'm unpacking my suitcases."  
"Why?"  
"Because I will be staying with you guys for a little while."  
"Why? What happened to your house?"  
Charlie joins in and asks "did it go kaboom?"  
Wilson smiles at the twins' questions and replies "no, my house is fine. I'll just be looking for another one."  
As Charlie gets distracted and runs to the next room, Ethan continues asking "why do you need another one?"  
Wilson pats the bed and asks Ethan to sit next to him "did you have a toy that you loved when you were younger?"  
"Yes, Barney the dinosaur."  
"Do you still play with Barney?"  
Ethan shakes his head and replies "I now sleep with my Spiderman."  
"There is nothing wrong with Barney, right? You just want to play with Spiderman now."  
Ethan nods in agreement and asks "there's nothing wrong with your house, you just want another one?"  
Wilson tussle Ethan's hairs and says "yes, you are a very smart boy."  
Charlie runs back to the room and says "my Daddy says you go through girls _(like)_ underwear."  
A very confused Wilson tries to correct Charlie but is interrupted by the twins laughing hysterically.  
Ethan says "Uncle Wilson, you're funny. You wear girl's underwear?"  
Charlie adds "you're weird."  
Wilson helplessly shakes his head.


	14. Chapter 14

_**Disclaimer:**__ All rights belong to Fox and David Shore. __**  
Author's Note:**__ Again, a big thanks to my beta __**Ceciilee**__ who simply rocks! _

***

_**Friday  
**_Emma, Lisa and Lizzy check-in at the Four Seasons hotel at around 5PM. As Cuddy feeds Lizzy, Emma calls Rachel to inform her that they've arrived and they should be at her place in an hour.  
Few minutes after, Cuddy gets a phone call from House.  
"Hey"  
"Hi Greg."  
"How was the drive?"  
"Good. Lizzy slept through the entire trip."  
"Good!"  
"How are the boys?"  
"Hmmm…here talk to thing one. Maybe, you can get him to stop crying."  
Ethan sobbingly asks "Mommy, when are you coming home?"  
"Hon, Mommy just left this afternoon. What's wrong?"  
"I miss you Mommy. Can you come home now?"  
"Mommy misses you too. I need you to stop crying, okay?"  
"I can't. I just want you home Mommy. Daddy is mad at me."  
"Daddy is not mad at you. He's probably not happy that you're crying."  
"Daddy called me a baby. I'm a big boy, Mommy."  
"I know you are honey. You need to stop crying so Daddy won't call you a baby, okay?"  
"Kay. Mommy, Charlie wants to speak to you."

"Hi Charlie."  
"Hi Mommy. Guess what we had for dinner?"  
"Hmmm…mac and cheese?"  
"Nope. I had some crunchy (_eggrolls_) and noodles."  
"So, Daddy ordered Chinese food huh?"  
"Yeah and Ethan got timed-out because he didn't eat his dinner."  
"Is that why he's crying?"  
"Yup! "  
"Okay. Honey, can you give the phone to Daddy?"  
"Kay."

"Hey."  
"Greg, what happened to Ethan?"  
"He didn't touch his dinner so I gave him a time-out."  
"Greg, Ethan doesn't eat Chinese food. "  
"He needs to start trying different food."  
"He's been trying different food. He has come a long way since a few months ago."  
"Lise, I'm not babying him."  
"Greg, he doesn't like being called a baby."  
"Then he should stop acting like one."  
"Fine. Let me talk to Jake."  
"He's not home. He went out with his friends."  
"Then, let me talk to Wilson."

"Hey Wilson."  
"Hey Cuddy."  
"How are things?"  
"Good. How was the drive up to New York."  
"It wasn't bad. Wilson?"  
"Yeah Cuddy?"  
"I was wondering if you can do me a favor?"  
"Sure."  
"Can you keep an eye on Ethan? He's a little bit picky when it comes to food and Greg sometimes just doesn't have patience for him. You know Greg, he'll eat anything and everything but Ethan is not like that."  
"Sure. I guess, you heard what happened tonight?"  
"Yes. There's leftover spaghetti in the fridge, he'll eat that. And if Greg decides to order Thai, Indian or any other exotic food, just make him some mac and cheese, please."  
"Consider it done."  
"Thanks Wilson."  
"Not a problem Cuddy. Do you want to speak to House again?  
"No, I have to get ready for dinner. I'll call him when we get back."

***

_**Midnight  
**_The twins are already asleep in bed, while House and Wilson are in the family room watching women's beach volleyball on TV.  
Wilson notices the number of times House has checked his watch. He also observes that House has his pager, cell phone, and house phone all line-up on the side table next to the sofa.  
Wilson asks "is it passed Jake's curfew?"  
House looks at his best friend incredulously and asks "have you met my son? Does he look like he needs a curfew?"  
"That's true. So, you're just waiting for Cuddy's call?"  
"Yeah, I'm curious how the Cuddy reunion go."  
Wilson nods and asks "I didn't even know Cuddy had a sister. Does she look like Cuddy?"  
"No, you idiot. I already told you that Rachel was adopted."  
"Oh yeah you did, my brain is too fried to think. I'm going to bed."  
House nods and after a few minutes, turns off the TV. He walks over to the nursery to checkup on the twins.

After tossing and turning for about half-hour in bed, House decides to head out to the living room and play his piano.  
House's piano playing is first interrupted by Jake coming home at around one o'clock in the morning.  
"Hey Dad."  
"Hey, how was your night on the town?"  
"It was fine. And you?"  
"Having problem sleeping so, I thought I would tickle the ivory a bit."  
Jake nods his head and says "well, I'm beat so I'm hitting the sack. Good night Dad!"

After about half hour later, House is interrupted again. This time it's one of the twins' voices crying out for his Mommy.  
House quickly walks over to the nursery, and softly says "hey, don't worry Daddy's here."  
It is obvious to House that one of his son is having a nightmare. However, he isn't prepared to see Ethan curled in a ball in the corner of his bed sobbing uncontrollably and pleading "please don't be mad at me. I'll be a big boy Daddy."  
House gently shakes his son and reassures him "Ethan, wake up. You're just having a nightmare."  
Ethan wakes up with a look of pain and sadness in his eyes. Upon seeing his father, he initially jerks his body in fear and sobs "I want my Mommy."  
The fact that he is the reason for his son's nightmare just about breaks House's heart into pieces. Within seconds, House is transported to his youth and the fear he felt when his father would beat him for misbehaving. House sits on the side of the bed and softly tells Ethan, while drawing circles on his back "Daddy loves you very much. Daddy will never hurt you. I love you, son."

***

_**Saturday Morning  
**_Wilson is all set to go for a quick run when, the phone rings. He answers the phone, chats with Cuddy for a few minutes and walks over to House's room. But after a couple of knocks on the door with no response, Cuddy tells him to check the nursery.  
Wilson smiles at the sight of House cramped up next to Ethan in the boy's twin size boat bed.  
He quietly shakes him, careful not to wake the boys.  
"Hey, your wife is on the phone" Wilson whispers softly.  
House nods, takes the phone from Wilson and groggily answers "hey Lise."  
"Hey, sorry to wake you up."  
"It's okay."  
"I hope you didn't stay up waiting for my call last night. We got back a little past midnight; I didn't want to wake you and the boys."  
As House gets up from the bed and immediately feels a sharp pain on his leg.  
"Shit!"  
"Greg, what's wrong?" Cuddy asks worried.  
He gingerly walks out of the nursery and replies "just leg cramps."

Wilson waves at House and signals that he's heading out for a run. House nods in acknowledgement.  
"Did you sleep in the nursery with boys?"  
"Yeah. Ethan had a nightmare last night. I must have fallen asleep while staying up with him."  
Cuddy worriedly asks "how bad was it this time?"  
"This time? He's had this type of nightmare before?"  
"Whenever he's scared, anxious, or upset he ends up having a nightmare."  
"He was already unsettled when you left, I think I made it worst by calling him a baby."  
"Ethan and Charlie may be twins but they're not alike. While Charlie takes your teasing as a challenge, Ethan takes it as a rejection of him."  
House fell silent as he takes note of what his wife has just said.  
"Greg?"  
"I just can't get over the look of pain in Ethan's eyes last night. Our son was scared of me, Lise."  
"It was just a nightmare, Greg. Just reassure Ethan that you love him and he'll be fine. He's not afraid of you, babe, he knows you will never physically hurt him."  
"Lise, you know…"  
"I know," she interrupts him, "but you're his hero; he needs to know you approve of him—he wants to be like you. So just remind him of how much you love him."  
Cuddy knows that her husband's biggest fear is ending up like his own father. So, as soon as her husband starts second guessing his parenting skills, Cuddy immediately reminds him how much their children love and adore him. His wife's reassurance help House set aside his doubts (_for the moment anyway_).

In an effort to change the topic, House asks "how did the Cuddy womenfolk' reunion go last night?"  
"It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Cathartic! Yeah, that's the word that best describes the reunion. "  
Cuddy goes on to tell House how the night went. She excitedly describes how the awkwardness lasted about five minutes until it was replaced by crying, hugging and an all around love fest. "There were simply too many emotions locked up for the last twenty years that needed to be expressed. Even Lizzy joined in on the conversation with all her cooing and soft babbling. Greg, have you heard your daughter squeal with glee? I didn't even know she had that high of a pitch."  
House laughs and replies "yes I have. She squeals like a girl when Ethan plays peek-a-boo with her."  
Cuddy laughs, 'honey, she is a girl."  
"No babe, she's my little princess."

House curiously asks "did Rachel know she was adopted?"  
"Yes, you were right. She said she initially became suspicious when she went through our old family albums when she was around 15-16 years old. But after I left for college and she was the only one with my parents, she became very conscious about her lack of physical resemblance to them. She mentioned something about looking into the family mirror and not seeing her reflection back."  
_**TBC**_

_Please continue clicking the "Review this story/chapter" button at the bottom of this page. I do appreciate all types of feedback, it's the only way I know if you love, hate, or even reading this story ;-)_


	15. Chapter 15

_**Author's Notes:**__ Special thanks to my beta __**Ceciilee**__, for continuing to do such an awesome job editing this fic._

***

"Did Rachel ever confront your Dad on whether she's adopted or not?"  
"She said she asked Dad about it several times. But Dad would often make jokes about it. Asking her who she suspected was her real father. Dad would nominate the milkman, the plumber and the mailman as his top choices. I guess, Dad never confirmed nor denied her suspicions. Rachel said that being adopted was never an issue because she never felt unloved."  
"If being adopted was not the issue, then it must be the guilt. Why did she blamed herself for your Dad's heart attack?"  
"Because she and Dad were arguing about something before he had the heart attack. She just felt that if she hadn't had the argument with Dad then maybe he would still be alive."  
"Hmmm…there's something missing. When did Rachel get the confirmation that she was adopted?"  
"During Rachel's freshman orientation, Mom bumped into one of her old sorority sisters. The woman worked on campus and would often invite Rachel for dinner. She showed Rachel her old sorority pictures with Mom. Anyway, Rachel immediately noticed her own resemblance to one of the girls in the photos. The woman identified the girl as our Mom's best friend Rebecca and mentioned that the two were like sisters."  
"Ah…Rachel googled her biological mother's name and found old articles of the car accident that killed her parents. Deduced that she was the miracle baby that survived the crash."  
"Yeah, except the google part. Remember, this was the mid-eighties. Anyway, her discovery somehow made her think that she was cursed."  
"That she's like a black cat that brought nothing but bad luck to her loved ones?"  
"How did you know? Did she tell you?"  
"Not in so many words."  
"Last night just brought back lots of memories—_good and bad_. Like the time when we were about 3-4 years old and Mom gave birth to our baby brother. His name was Jacob (_Jr._) and he died a couple of days after he was born (_from complication brought on by premature birth_). While I have forgotten about my brother, Rachel somehow remembers him clearly. Apparently, when I gave birth and named our son Jake, Rachel got scared that if she stayed close, something bad would also happened to Jake."  
"The Rachel curse?"  
"Yes. Somehow, she thought that if she stayed away from me then I would be safe from her curse."  
"But she kept in touch with your Mom?"  
"Yes, she couldn't turn her back on the woman who raised her as her own. You should see her face when I told her that I love her and that she'll forever be my only sister."  
"So, what's the plan?"  
"I invited her to come with us on our vacation. Maybe take pictures of the road."  
The deafening silence that greets Cuddy's plan, pretty much reveals what House thinks. But, Cuddy continues "unfortunately, Rachel will be in Belize on assignment for the next two weeks. Anyway, she promised to come and visit us when we get back from vacation."  
Cuddy instantly hears a big sigh of relief on the other line and tells House "you better be relieving yourself in the bathroom, because I don't like the sound that you're making."  
House innocently asks "what sound?"  
No sooner had he said it, House hears the twins yelling "Daddy! Daddy!"

***

_**Saturday Afternoon  
**_One of the "must have" gadgetry on House's shopping list for their family road trip is a portable GPS navigation system. House convinced Wilson to accompany him to the local electronic store to purchase his new toy.  
House promises "it'll be simple. We'll be done in no time."  
Of course, the task isn't as simple when you have a nerd as your eldest son who wants to read all the technical specifications for each model and two inquisitive toddlers who think everything in the store requires an inspection.  
Wilson says "I think we need to bring the stroller in the next store."  
"Yeah, who knew this could be so complicated. I just need a GPS to help me get to where I'm going."  
Jake dropped his father, Wilson, and the twins by the store entrance while he looks for a parking space.  
After entering their third store and making sure that the twins are strapped in their strollers. They are greeted by a salesman "Good afternoon, is there anything I can do to help you two gentlemen with?"  
Wilson who's pushing the strollers replies "thanks. We're looking for a GPS system."  
The salesman looks at House, Wilson, then the twins and replies "oh, we have a family friendly line of GPS system…"  
While House and Wilson are distracted by the various GPS system being shown to them by the salesman, the twins start complaining.  
"I'm hungry Daddy."  
"Me too."  
After a few minutes of whining, both House and Wilson pretty much tune the twins out.  
The boys decided to hatch a plan on their own; they quietly sneak out of their stroller.  
The boys don't get as far as they want since Jake immediately spots them.  
"Where do you think you two are going?" Jake asks  
Charlie points towards the mall and says "over there. We're hungry."  
"Do you have money to buy food?"  
The twins shake their little heads and say "we'll ask people. They'll give us food. Mommy says we're adorable so we always get what we want. We practice on Uncle Wilson. He always says yes."  
Jake smiles at how innocent his brothers are. He looks at his watch and realizes that it's almost two o'clock and the boys haven't had anything to eat since breakfast. So, he drops whatever items he's carrying and takes the boys to the food court.

In the meantime, Wilson just realized that the twins are no longer in their strollers.  
"Shit! House, I lost the twins."  
"What?"  
As Wilson frantically searches for the twins around the store, House picks up his phone and calls Jake.  
"Hey, where are you?"  
"I'm at the food court with the twins. You know it's past two and they haven't had anything to eat since breakfast."  
House gives a sigh of relief and says "Good! I'll go get Wilson and we'll be there in a few minutes."

As House informs Wilson that the twins are with Jake, Wilson asks "did you see Jake pick them up? Because I don't remember it."  
House gives it a quick thought and replies "not really."  
The two walk out of the electronic store and head out to the food court.  
Wilson quickly spots the three House boys and waves at them.  
"I don't know how Cuddy can go shopping with the twins and a baby."  
House smiles and replies "she's an amazing woman."  
"You lucky bastard! I wish I had a woman like her. "  
"She has a sister, you know. A little bit nutty but I'm sure you won't mind it since that runs in your family."  
Wilson scoffs at House's matchmaking idea and retorts "great! I'll be sure to tell Cuddy how you feel about her sister."  
When House joins his kids on the table, he pays close attention to what his kids are eating. Jake is eating a grilled chicken salad, Charlie chicken nuggets and Ethan a cup of fruit. While he's a little disappointed that none of his boys got his penchant for Reuben sandwich, he's very proud that they're confident enough to be their own person.

_--------  
__Just wanted to again express my thanks to all my loyal readers, who takes the time to send feedback every chapter. I truly appreciate all your support and it encourages me to continue writing. For those of who've set up your story alerts, thanks and please delurk sometime and let me know what you think ;-)_


	16. Chapter 16

_**Author's Notes:**__ Special thanks to my beta __**Ceciilee**__, for continuing to do such an awesome job editing this fic._

***

After eating their lunch, they all head back to the electronics store. The eager salesman again greets House and Wilson "welcome back, have you two gentlemen made a decision yet?"  
Before House can reply, Ethan tugs his father's hand and says "Daddy, I need to pee."  
Charlie joins "me too."  
"Okay, hold on a minute."  
House instructs Jake to check out the various GPS while he takes the twins to the men's room.  
Jake points at one of the GPS systems on display and asks the salesman "what's the map coverage for this one?"  
The salesman does a quick double take at Jake as he notices the strong physical resemblance between him and his father. He then replies "good question, this one comes with US & Canada map coverage."  
"We'll primarily be using it on the car but we would like to be able to use it as a handheld device when we go hiking. How long will it last before it needs to recharge again?"  
While Jake asks more questions, Wilson quietly listens to the exchange between the two.  
Shortly after, Jake tells Wilson "I think Dad should get this one. It has good map coverage, text-to-speech functionality, nice bright and wide screen, decent battery life, and Bluetooth."  
"Yeah, it looks good."  
"Okay, I'll go tell Dad" as Jake heads towards the games and toys section where House and the twins have been hanging out for at least thirty minutes.  
The salesman smile at Wilson and says "he's a smart kid."  
"Yeah, he is."  
"His Dad must be very proud of him?"  
"Yeah, he is."  
"His resemblance to his Dad is very striking. Are the twin boys his too?"  
"Yup, they're all his. His very proud of his virility" Wilson jokily adds.  
"Did you two hire a surrogate mother for your children? My partner and I are thinking about adopting."  
Wilson's face immediately turns beet red and quickly replies "oh, we're not together."  
House, who walks in on the conversation, says "no, we're not together. I just use him for sex whenever the wife is away" with a deadpan face.  
Wilson looks at House in utter shock but is much too confuse to say anything.  
The salesman is about to apologize but is interrupted by House who asks "my son says he already picked the GPS system?"  
"Ah, yes right here. Should I ring it up for you?"  
"Sure. And these too" House hands him a roll-up piano toy and a SpongeBob video game.  
The salesman introduces himself as the department manager and offers "If your son is interested in working here, we would love to have him on board; we could use someone as knowledgeable as him."  
House sarcastically replies "thanks. I'll tell his Mom, she'll be so proud."

***

**Sunday Morning  
**The twins wake up at around seven o' clock and try to get their father up. House goes as far as grunting and telling the boys to wait for him in the kitchen. On their way out of their parents' room, the twins bump into Wilson, who is all set to leave for work.  
Ethan greets him "good morning Uncle Wilson."  
"Hey Ethan and Charlie! You two are up early today."  
Ethan nods and asks "where you going?"  
"I'm on my way to work."  
"You have a sick patient?"  
"Uh…no, I'm finishing up some paper work."  
"My Daddy says paper works are good for (starting) bonfires. Are you making a bonfire, Uncle Wilson?"  
Wilson laughs and replies "no, I'm not. Do you guys want me to make you some breakfast before I leave?"  
The twins reply in unison "Kay."  
"What do you guys want?"  
Charlie replies "may I have your mac(adamia) waffle?"  
Ethan adds "yeah, mac waffle. Please."  
"Well, good thing we have leftovers from yesterday. I'll go warm it up and it'll be ready in a minute."

After making the twins breakfast, Wilson knocks at House's bedroom and says "House, I'm heading out to work. Your kids are eating breakfast in the kitchen"  
House yell back "go away!"  
Wilson instructs the boys that if their Dad is not out after they finish their breakfast; they should wake him up again.  
The twins reply in unison "Kay."

As they promised Wilson, the twins go back to wake their Dad after they finish their breakfast.  
The twins yell "Daddy, wake up!"  
House grunts "fifteen more minutes."  
Charlie asks "can we watch SpongeBob SquarePants?"  
House turns on the TV and goes back to sleep.  
The boys watch TV for about thirty-minutes and decide that they should build a pillow fort in the family room. They collect all the cushions from the sofa and stand them to create walls. They grab their blankets from the nursery and use them as roof to the pillow fort. Since one fort isn't enough, they build another one. When they get bored once again, they decide to go down the basement and wake up their big brother Jake.

Two hours later, House's peaceful slumber is interrupted by the sound of his wife's voice yelling "oh my god! Gregory House!"  
He initially ignores it thinking it's just a dream but after he hears his wife turn off the TV and is yelling about inch away from his ears, he knows that it's not a dream.  
"Greg! Did you hear me?"  
"Huh? You're early."  
"Apparently, not early enough. Did you see what the twins did in the family room?"  
"Huh…no, why?"  
"Well, see it for yourself."

House groggily wakes up and walks out of their bedroom. He looks around and nonchalantly asks "what am I looking for?"  
"Greg, look at all my pots and pans."  
House follows Cuddy's finger and sees the line of pots cleverly stack on top of each right next to the pillow fort in the family room.  
"Awesome!"  
"House!"  
"What? You don't think it's cool?"  
"Yes, I mean No! The point is that our pots and pans are not toys. They're not allowed to play with adult stuff."  
"Lise, they're kids."  
"Sure, while we're at it why don't we give them matches so they can play with fire too."  
House rolls his eyes and asks "what do you want me to do?"  
"I need you to back me up when I speak to them."  
Before House can reply, Emma comes out of the nursery with Lizzy in her arms. She asks her daughter "who do you need to speak to?"  
Cuddy shows her mother what the twins have done and Emma starts laughing.  
Cuddy looks at her Mom incredulously and say "not you too."

At this time, Jake and the twins come up to join them.  
Jake looks at what the twins did and says "cool, I gotta take a picture of this."  
Cuddy glares at her son and says "Jacob Gregory House! You better not encourage your brothers to start using my pots and pan as their lego set."  
House points at the two forts and asks "did you two build those forts?"  
Charlie nods his head while Ethan confesses "we did it, Daddy."  
Jake asks "how did you guys open Mom's 'baby proof cabinets'?"  
Charlie smirks and replies "it's easy. You just put your hands inside and push the white thingy (latch) down."  
Ethan proudly agrees and adds "we're not babies anymore Jake."  
Cuddy listens in horror as the twins describe how they easily break into her supposedly child proof kitchen cabinets. She gently tells the boys "Mommy's pots and pans are not toys. We don't play with them, okay?"  
The twins nod and say "sorry Mommy."  
Cuddy nudges her husband to say something to support her.  
House tries to keep a straight face and says "boys, I think it's time Daddy buys you two your big boy lego set."  
Cuddy yells "Greg!"

***

As always, I do appreciate all types of feedback, it's the only way I know if you love, hate or even reading this story ;-)


	17. Chapter 17

_**Author's Note:**__ A big thanks to my beta __**Ceciilee**__, whose__ edits, thoughtful insights, and patience is greatly appreciated._

***

House walks into his office, sees Jake sitting on his lounge chair reading a book and smirks.  
"Glad to see you're learning something from your old man."  
Jake looks up, smiles at his Dad and replies "I don't know Dad, I have so much to learn."  
"That's because the other half of your genes is resisting the great teaching of Dr. House. I'm guessing you got nothing for me to do."  
"Actually, I finished your paperwork but you'll need to sign. And we need to work on our vacation itinerary."  
"I'll sign them later. For our vacation, how about if we take the route 66 road trip?"  
Jake laughs and replies "As much I appreciate the history of route 66 and what Jack Kerouac's beatnik thought of it, I think we have to be practical. Driving a 40something feet long bus on an old two-way lane will just be too much."  
"Yeah, you're right. But we should ride our bike on route 66 someday."  
"Dad, don't you start getting sentimental on me" Jake jokingly tells his Dad. "Or we can do Route 50 straight shot from Ocean City (_Maryland_) to Sacramento (_California_)."  
"To heck with straight shot, the only reason we bought a GPS so it'll tell us how to get to where we want to go."  
"Okay then" Jake walks over to the conference room and starts writing "Baltimore, Mackinac Island, and Anaheim" on the white board.  
House takes the marker, scratch-off Anaheim and adds "Lancaster, Grand Canyon, Yosemite, Yellowstone and San Diego."  
"I thought you told Mom that we'll go to Disneyland?"  
"San Diego will be much more fun. We'll go visit LegoLand and the Zoo."  
"I think they'll like that. What's in Lancaster?"  
"Amish Country and maybe Dutch Wonderland."  
"Cool! Can we drop by Cedar Point too?"  
House replies "why not?" and writes "Sandusky" on the board.  
As father and son start swapping travel stories, it becomes apparent to House that while his son has seen quite bit of the world. Jake has yet to explore his own backyard and their upcoming road trip will truly be memorable.

***

House and Cuddy are lying in bed discussing their upcoming trip. Cuddy informs House that she spoke to his parents and has asked them to look after the little ones for a few hours while they accompany Jake at Hopkins.  
"And?"  
"Your parents want us to stay overnight."  
"Just tell them no, we have a very tight schedule."  
Cuddy looks at her husband and calmly replies "why don't you tell them yourself."  
"You know I can't. Besides, Mom will make a huge deal out of our visit."  
"Can you blame her? It's the first time that you're bringing all her grandchildren to visit her."  
House rolls his eyes and replies "I'm not even sure if we can all fit in their house."  
"Have you been to your parent's house?"  
"No, not the one they're living in now. Why?"  
"Your mom said they have five bedrooms."  
"Make sure you tell Dad that he better be prepared for the mess his grandchildren are going to make."  
"Greg, you know how much your Dad loves our kids. I'm sure he won't mind a little mess."  
House shakes his head and replies "not the Colonel that I grew up with."  
"Well, people change."  
"No, they don't. They may want to. They may need to."  
"Well, you don't have your Dad wrapped around your little finger like the twins do."  
House is about to reply when he sees his wife walking over to the bathroom. After second thought, he simply shrugs his shoulder and turns on the TV.

***

_**The Next Morning  
**_Cuddy wakes her husband at around eight and tells him "Greg, can you take the twins with you to work this morning?"  
"Why?"  
"I need to do some last minute shopping for our trip and I can do more if I only have to take Lizzy with me."  
"But Jake and I are picking up the bus this afternoon."  
Cuddy kisses her husband and says "I'll come by and pick them up when I'm done."  
"And what do I get by agreeing to do this?"  
"You'll have a very grateful wife who loves you."  
House raises his brow while sneaking his arm around her waist and seductively asks "can my wife shows me how much she loves me?"  
Cuddy slaps his arm and replies "are you nuts? The kids are all outside."  
"Come on babe, just a quick morning delight."  
"You better be quick or you'll be grouchy all day if you don't get to finish."

At around nine-thirty, Cuddy informs the twins that they're going with their Dad to work.  
Charlie shrugs his shoulder and asks "why?"  
"Mommy has lots of errands that she needs to run before our trip."  
Charlie says "kay" and is off running to the family room.  
However, Ethan is pacing nervously.  
"Honey, what's wrong?"  
"Mommy, can I come with you in your errands? I'll be a good boy."  
"Why don't you want to go to work with Daddy?"  
"I just want to be with you, Mommy."  
"That's very sweet honey. But Mommy will be too busy to keep an eye on you and Lizzy."  
Tears start falling down Ethan's face as he reaches over and hugs his mommy's legs.  
Cuddy gently comforts her son and asks "will you be okay if Mommy packs your favorite lunch?"  
A smile appears on Ethan's face as he nods his tiny head.

House walks in the hospital at around ten with the twins.  
Wilson greets the twins by the entrance and says "hey you two! Are you here to help Daddy do his work?  
Ethan excitedly hugs Wilson and says "Uncle Wilson! We're going to ride the bus today."  
Wilson smiles and asks "you are?"  
Charlie adds "yeah! Daddy said we're bringing home the bus today."  
Ethan starts telling Wilson "my Daddy is going to drive the bus around the country. We're going to A(nna)polis tomorrow to visit my Oma and Opa. My Opa has a boat and we're gonna ride in it."  
Charlie corrects his brother "no, Opa said we're going to visit the (N)aval (Aca)demy."  
Ethan tugs his father's hand and worriedly asks "Daddy, we're riding Opa's boat right?"  
House pats Ethan's heads and replies "we'll have to see if we have time."  
"But, Daddy. You promised you would take me boating."  
"I will take you boating. It doesn't need to be your Opa's boat, it can be some other boat."  
Wilson smiles and gives his best friend a pat in the back.  
Upon entering the elevator, Wilson starts telling House about his patient. House sees Charlie and simply assumes that Ethan is with him.  
When the elevator door opens, Charlie runs toward House's office. House takes a quick look around, tells Wilson to keep an eye on Charlie and pushes the elevator back down. As the door is closing Wilson raises his arms and asks "where are you going?"  
House yells "I left something in the lobby."

As the elevator opens, House immediately spots Ethan chatting with the janitor. But instead of approaching them, he quietly listens to their conversation.  
Ethan asks the janitor "do you like buffing the floor?"  
"Kid, it pays the bills. It allows me to do what I really like to do."  
"What do you like to do?"  
"I play the piano with my band at night."  
"My Daddy plays the piano. I'm still learning."  
"Good. Does your Daddy teach you how to play the piano?"  
Ethan shakes his head and replies "my brother Jake teaches me."  
"Why don't you ask your Daddy to teach you?"  
"He's very busy."  
"My Daddy was busy too, but when I asked him he found time to teach me how to play the piano."  
Ethan simply shrugs his shoulder.  
House clears his throat and Ethan turns around to see his Daddy.  
"I gotta go Mr. Mike. My Daddy is waiting for me."  
The janitor turns around to see the cranky diagnostician, nods at him and says "you got yourself a good kid, Doc."  
_**TBC  
**_

_Please continue clicking the "Review this story/chapter" button at the bottom of this page. I do appreciate all types of feedback, it's the only way I know if you love, hate, or even reading this story ;-)_


	18. Chapter 18

_**Author's Notes:**__ Special thanks to my beta __**Ceciilee**__, for continuing to do such an awesome job editing this fic._

***

House is aware that Ethan likes playing the piano. In fact, he has heard his son play "Twinkle Little Star" about a thousand times but has never thought much of it. He bought Ethan a foldable toy piano because Cuddy mentioned that he needed a portable one for their trip. It never occurred to him that Ethan wants to learn from him or that his own son thinks his father is too busy to teach him or spend time with him. House remembers when he was younger, watching his Dad assembles model planes. It was something that he wanted to do with his Dad but after being rebuffed from touching his father's model planes, the younger House took on piano playing instead. It was something that not only came naturally to him, but it was something he could share with his Mom. Playing the piano strengthened their mother-son relationship. When House was around eight years old and had learned everything he could from his Mom, she hired a piano teacher to challenge him. The younger House would often play for his Mom after dinner, while his father retreated to his study room. House stirs from his daydream just in time to acknowledge the janitor's remark.

"Hey, you know you're not supposed to walk away from Daddy" House addresses his son.  
Ethan nods his head and apologizes "sorry Daddy, I was looking at the floor buffer and I forgot."  
House knows that his son is on the brink of tears so he tries to calms him and says "it's okay,just don't do it again, okay?"  
Ethan nods his head again and reaches for his backpack, but House quickly picks it up for him.  
House notices how bulky Ethan's bag is and asks "what do you have in your backpack?"  
"My lunch box. Mommy made me lunch."  
House is taken back by Ethan's answer but holds his tongue and instead replies "okay."  
As they ride the elevator, House holds Ethan's hand tightly—_almost willing __himself__ to figuratively and literally make sure not to lose his son_.

After House gets the twins settled in the conference room, he calls his wife.  
"Hey."  
"Hi, don't tell me you already had enough."  
"No…"  
"Greg?"  
"You packed Ethan's lunch."  
"Yeah, I just…"  
"Did he have an (_anxiety_) attack again?"  
"Greg, he's just a worrier that's all."  
"No Lise. You need to tell me these things. If my son is scared of me…"  
"Stop it! He's not scared of you, Greg. He just worries about things. He doesn't want to disappoint you."  
"He's barely three and he's worried about disappointing me?"  
"Greg, he is very sensitive. You work with Jake all day, I take care of Lizzy 24-7 and Charlie is not shy about demanding our time when he needs us**; **which leaves Ethan with not much. The only time he gets our attention is when he's in trouble. He just wants to make us happy."  
House thinks to himself, "Even when the twins are doing mischief, Charlie is usually the instigator. Ethan simply goes along to appease his brother." He informs Cuddy "Ethan wandered off in the lobby and I found him talking to the hippie janitor."  
"Oh that's Mike. He's harmless Greg."  
"I know. I overheard Ethan saying that his Daddy is too busy to teach him to play the piano."  
Cuddy gasps upon hearing what House said. She knows how her husband talks about the fact that the colonel was too busy to spend time with him when he was younger. That by the time he turned thirteen; the damage to their father-son relationship was beyond repair.  
"Greg, we just need to make a conscious effort to spend equal time with all of our children. Maybe, we'll set aside one day with each kid so they know that we love them equally."  
As Wilson walks into House's office, he says "okay. We'll talk about it later."  
"Greg, are you okay?"  
"Wilson's here. I gotta go."  
"I love you Greg."  
House grunts "uh-huh."

***

After his consult with Wilson, House asks Jake "did you bring lunch?"  
"Yeah."  
"What did you bring?"  
"Leftover pasta and some salad, why?"  
House reaches over to his wallet, pulls a twenty dollar bill and hands it to his son.  
"I'll have your lunch. Go to the cafeteria, get something for you and Charlie."  
"What about Ethan?"  
"Your Mom packed him his lunch; I think I'll eat with him."  
Jake smiles at his Dad and says "sounds like a plan."

The two walk over to the conference room and Jake asks Charlie "hey sport, wanna have lunch with your big bro?"  
Charlie shrugs his shoulder and replies "kay."  
Almost instantly, House notices Ethan purse his lips. House puts his hand on Ethan's shoulder to put him at ease and says "I guess, you're having lunch with Daddy. Is that okay?"  
Blue meets blue and Ethan nods his head.  
As Jake and Charlie walk out of the room, House heads to refrigerator to get both their lunches.

House asks Ethan "are you ready?"  
"Ready for what Daddy?"  
"We're having lunch at Daddy's secret secret hide away place."  
The little boy's eyes lit up in excitement and ask "just you and me, Daddy?"  
"Yes, just you and me. You know why?"  
As Ethan shakes his head, House pretends to look at his watch and replies "because it's now Daddy and Ethan time."  
Ethan smiles broadly at the thought of spending alone time with his Daddy.  
After getting off the elevator on the sixth floor, House asks his son "do you promise not to tell Daddy's secret place to anyone?"  
Ethan nods his tiny head.  
House asks "how will I know you won't tell anyone my secret place?"  
The little boy thinks for second and replies "I pinky swear Daddy."  
House laughs and answers "pinky swears it is then."

House takes his son up on the rooftop where they sit on an old plastic patio set.  
Upon opening Ethan's lunch box, House finds Cuddy's note to her son. He hands it to Ethan along with his PBJ sandwich. Cuddy has drawn a heart and left a kiss impression for her son which brings out a huge smile from Ethan.  
"You must be very special since you got lots of treats from Mommy" as House takes out the various items from the boy's lunch box which includes: three baby carrot sticks, a cheese stick, a handful of cereal trail mix and five pieces of M&Ms.  
Ethan beams and replies "Mommy loves me very much. She's the best Mommy in the world!"  
"Yes she is. You know that Daddy loves you too, right?"  
The boy nods his head and replies "I love you too Daddy."

Ethan excitedly asks "what do have for lunch Daddy?"  
House opens Jake's lunch bag to reveal a bento box container. It has four compartments: salad, pasta salad, fruit salad and a yogurt (_parfait_). House rolls his eyes and sarcastically says "whoopee! I have rabbit food."  
Ethan laughs loudly and says "you're funny Daddy." The boy points to a little plastic container on the side "what's that Daddy?"  
House inspects it and concludes "it's a salad dressing."

"I'll give you my salad for your PBJ" offers House.  
Ethan laughs and replies "kay."  
After devouring the PBJ and his pasta salad, House asks his son "wanna trade your M&Ms for this white stuff (yogurt)?"  
Ethan shakes his head and exasperatedly says "Oh Daddy, yogurt is good for you."  
House smiles and replies "but your M&Ms are much more delicious."  
The little boy reaches for his stash and starts distributing them by saying "one for Daddy, one for Ethan, one for Daddy, one for Ethan." He stopped at the fifth M&M and asks "Daddy, who gets this one?"  
House smiles and replies "I think you should eat that for being a good boy."  
The boy's face beams up with pride and says "thank you Daddy."

***

_As always, I do appreciate all types of feedback, it's the only way I know if you love, hate or even reading this story ;-)_


	19. Chapter 19

_**Author's Note:**__A very big thank you to my wonderful beta __**Ceciilee,**__ who just never ceases to amaze me with her patience and editorial skills._

***

After father and son finish their lunch, House moves the patio chair near the balcony so Ethan can look over the ledge.  
"You can see the entire campus from here."  
"What's a campus Daddy?"  
"Campus is the land where the university sits on. Everything you see here is part of Princeton University."  
"Where's our house Daddy?"  
House points west and adds "you can't really see our house from here but it's over that way."  
"Daddy, when I grow up like Jake can I go to Princeton?"  
"Sure, if that's what you like."  
"I like to be near you, Mommy, Charlie and Lizzy. I don't want to go away. Jake's school is so far far away Daddy."  
House smiles at his son and replies "I would like it if you stayed close by, but if you decide to go to some exotic college that will be fine too."  
"When I grow up, I want to be just like you Daddy."  
"Really?"  
"Yeah, I'll be a diag(_nos_)tician. I'll cure sick people and work for you."  
House smiles and replies "I like that idea."  
"Jake, Charlie and me can be the ducklings."  
"What about Lizzy?"  
"She'll be like Mommy. She's gonna tell us to do paperwork and clinic."  
House can't help but laugh at his son's vision of the future.

Shortly after, the two head back down to House's office where they are met by Jake and Charlie.  
"Dad, don't forget that you have a 2PM consult with Dr. Carson" as Jake hands him the patient file.  
As the twins walk over to the conference room, Charlie asks "where did you and Daddy go?"  
"Daddy and I had lunch."  
"Where? I didn't see you in the cafeteria."  
Ethan nonchalantly replies "we went to Daddy's secret secret hiding place."  
"Coma guy's room?"  
"No, not Daddy's secret hiding place. It's Daddy's secret secret hiding place."  
"Where's that?"  
"It's a secret."  
"But Mommy said we were not allowed to keep secret."  
"It's okay. It's Daddy's secret so it tops Mommy's rule."  
"Nun-uh!"  
"Uh-huh!"  
"Nun-uh!"  
"Uh-huh, asks Daddy."  
"Nun-uh! I'll tell Mommy."  
"Tell Mommy what?" Jake asks the twins.  
Charlie replies "Ethan said that Daddy's rule tops Mommy's rules."  
Jake smirks and asks "Daddy has rules?"  
Ethan replies "no, Daddy asks me to keep a secret but Mommy doesn't allow us to keep a secret."  
"Did you have lunch at Daddy's secret secret hiding place?"  
Ethan nods his head and hesitantly asks "you know where it is?"  
Jake looks straight at Ethan's eyes and replies "No, that's a special place between you and Dad. You keep that a secret and Mommy won't mind." He turns around to Charlie and says "that trumps Mommy's rule."  
Charlie throws his arms and complains "how come Ethan gets a special place with Daddy?"  
Jake coyly replies "you'll get your turn. Remember, Ethan is older than you."  
House walks-in and asks Charlie "do you know the secret handshake?"  
Charlie exasperatedly answers "No, there's a secret handshake Daddy?"  
"Yup! You gotta learn that before you'll get to Daddy's secret secret hiding place."  
"How will I learn the secret handshake Daddy?"  
"After you learn the secret password."  
"What's the secret password Daddy?"  
"Sorry, you'll have to figure that out."  
"Where are the clues Daddy?"  
House whisper on Charlie's ear "you'll see the clues in the bus."  
Charlie's eyes grow wide in excitement and exclaim "are we getting the bus yet?"  
Before House can reply, Dr. Carson walks-in for his 2PM consult.  
Jake informs the twins that Daddy has a meeting so they'll have to color quietly in the conference room.

***

As House and Jake pick up the motor coach from the rental place, Cuddy takes the twins home.  
By the time House pulls up the forty something -feet bus on the driveway, the twins are waiting by the kitchen door. Cuddy has left the garage door open so they can see when their Dad pulls-up.  
"Mommy, Daddy is here. Can we go look at the bus now? Please, please, please."  
Cuddy who is carrying little Lizzy in her arms peeks through the door and replies "we'll wait until Daddy has parked the bus and then we all can look at it at the same time."  
After spotting their brother getting off the bus, the twins immediately look over to their Mom and ask "Can we go now?"  
Before Cuddy can respond, Jake yells "wanna come and checkout the bus?"  
Jake leads the entire brood up the bus and everyone is simply blown away by the amenities included in the motor coach. It includes a large TV in the main living area, a computer desk, a galley kitchenette with a full-size refrigerator, microwave and stove, a sectional dinette, a master bedroom with a queen size bed and TV, a bathroom with a shower, toilet and sink, a stackable washer and dryer, a bunk bed, and a couple of sofas that easily turn into sleepers.  
After spotting the bunk beds, the twins instantly beg their parents "can we sleep on the bunk bed, please?"  
Cuddy immediately says "no" while House asks "why not?"  
"Greg, they might fall off the bed. One of you boys can sleep at the bottom, but definitely not the top."  
House argues "they'll be fine. Just get one of those bed rails."  
Cuddy looks at her husband and asks "I thought you said this would sleep up to 8 people?"  
House nods and asks everyone to move to the left side of the bus as he pushes a button that slides the right hand wall about two feet out for additional space. Jake converts one the sofas into a sleeper bed and informs his Mom that the sofa next to it can also be converted to a bed.  
Cuddy addresses the twins "honey, one or both of you can sleep on the sofa bed. I think this is more comfortable and you'll be near your big brother too."  
Ethan volunteers "it's okay Mommy, I'll sleep in the sofa with Jake."  
Cuddy can't help but smile at her sweet little Ethan.  
Jake pushes a button, a huge drop down LCD TV screen appears and informs Ethan "we can watch SpongeBob at night."  
Charlie runs back to the rear of the coach and yells "I can't see the TV from the bunk bed. I'm sleeping on the sofa bed with Ethan!"

As House is showing the master bedroom to Cuddy, she asks "I guess, Lizzy has to sleep on our bed."  
House rolls his eyes and jokingly replies "I think she can fit in one of the drawers."  
Cuddy looks at the wardrobe dresser and laugh. "I think you're right. Those are huge drawers."  
"You like it my queen?"  
"I love it. You did well my king" and kisses her husband.  
The intimate kiss between House and Cuddy is interrupted when Lizzy decides to rub her face between her parent's face.  
Cuddy smiles and asks "oh sorry baby, are Mommy and Daddy ignoring you?"  
As if on cue, Lizzy starts giggling and smiling at her parents.

***

After dinner, House gives the twins their baths and proceeds to play the piano for the family.  
It is an abbreviated version of their family music time since the kids have to sleep early so the adults can begin getting ready for their road trip.  
Cuddy already has her supplies neatly line up on the dining table when House and Jake walk in with all the storage bins for the supplies.  
"Lise, kitchen supplies go on these bins."  
"Thanks, the kids' stuff are ready to be loaded on the bus" as she points to the three luggage near the foyer.  
"Why did you have to pack it? We'll have to unpack it again on the bus."  
"I want to make sure that it'll fit in the luggage when we fly back home. And yes, you'll have pack your clothes in the luggage as well."  
"But, Mom!!!" House whines like a little boy.

***

_As always, I do appreciate all types of feedback, it's the only way I know if you love, hate or even reading this story ;-)_


	20. Chapter 20

_**Author's Notes:**__ Special thanks to my beta __**Ceciilee**__, for continuing to do such an awesome job editing this fic._

***

Shortly after Blythe's first visit about two years ago, Cuddy has made it a habit of calling her every other week to check up on her and share the latest news about her grandchildren. While Cuddy rarely speaks with John, Blythe has let it slip that he always happens to be reading his magazine a few feet away from her every time she's on the phone with Cuddy. Also, whenever the two elder Houses travel, the kids always receive gift packages. And when Cuddy informed Blythe that they will be in town for Jake's visit to Hopkins, Blythe quickly made plans for them to stay for a few days.

As they enter the city of Annapolis, Cuddy hands Lizzy over to Jake and signals for him to leave her and House for a few minutes. She seats next to the driver seat and clears her throat.  
"Greg?"  
"Huh?"  
"I kindda promised your Mom that we'll stay with them for a couple of days. I know you only said yes to overnight but I couldn't say no to her."  
"Uh-huh."  
Cuddy is surprised that House isn't mad and asks "you knew?"  
"Yup! I was just waiting for when you were going to tell me."  
"How did you know?"  
"The twins mentioned that their Opa was taking them to the Naval Academy. Knowing my Dad, it's not enough that he'll take the twins while we're at Hopkins. He'll make sure to drag you and Jake with him."  
"Oh, are you okay with that?"  
"Lizzy and I can stay home and watch TV."  
Cuddy rubs her husband's shoulder and whisper "Greg, I think we should all go. Your Dad will want us to meet his friends."  
"Is there anything else you forgot to tell me?"  
Cuddy kisses House's cheeks and replies "that I love you very much" quickly adds "and your Mom is throwing a barbeque party tonight. She's inviting all your relatives since none of them have met our kids."  
House "What?"

"I said I love you" but Cuddy is sidetracked after seeing Charlie push Ethan off the sofa.  
Cuddy and Jake yells in unison "Charlie!"  
Charlie is startle by the fact that both his Mom and his big brother caught him so he immediately picks-up Ethan from the floor.

Cuddy takes Charlie to the rear of the bus and asks her son "why did you push your brother?"  
"It was an accident. He slipped."  
"No, Ethan didn't slipped. I saw you deliberately push your brother."  
"No Mommy. He slipped" pointing at his right hand.  
"Charlie, you remember our deal? You need to stop misbehaving or else you'll always get timeout."  
Charlie nods his head and replies "I know Mommy. Sometimes, Ethan just makes me mad."  
"Why does he make you mad?"  
"He just doesn't listen to me."  
Cuddy smiles and replies "yeah, reminds me so much of someone."  
Charlie exasperatedly explains "Daddy said the clue to the secret password is on the bus and I'm looking for it. But all Ethan wants to do is play with his stupid piano."  
"First of all we don't use the word stupid. Second, what clues and passwords are you looking for?"  
"Daddy said if I find the secret password, I'll learn the secret handshake. Then he'll show me his secret secret hiding place."  
"Oy vey! You and your father's puzzles."  
"Do you know where the clues are Mommy?"  
Cuddy shakes her head and asks "what's so special about Daddy's secret hiding place?"  
"No Mommy! It's not Daddy's secret hiding place! It's Daddy's secret secret hiding place."  
Cuddy can't help but smile at how animated Charlie gets at explaining his Dad's hiding place. She gently asks "why is it so important to you?"  
"Because Ethan gets a special place with Daddy."  
"And you want one too?"  
Charlie shrugs his shoulder.  
Cuddy kisses Charlie's head and replies "how about you get a special place with Mommy?"  
"Can I Mommy?"  
"Sure, why not?"  
"Does Ethan know about it?"  
"Nope. It'll just be our special secret."  
Charlie smiles, hugs Cuddy and says "you're the best, Mommy!"  
"Uh-huh, but that doesn't excuse you from what you did to your brother. Now go and apologize to Ethan."  
"But, Mom!"

***

John and Blythe's home is located along Weems Creek in Annapolis, Maryland. John purchased the two acre waterfront property about ten years ago for almost nothing. Its proximity to the Navy stadium, downtown Annapolis, and private backyard pier has made it a very sought after property. Up until two years ago, they've been using it primary as a vacation home. However, Blythe's frequent trips to Princeton have convinced John that it's best that they permanently move to Annapolis. She's only two hours away from her grandchildren and he'll be near his beloved Naval Academy.

Shortly after they arrive, John and Blythe give the clan a quick tour of the property. House and Cuddy's room is located on the west side, next to the kids' room. Blythe has bought a portable crib for Lizzy, while the twins each have asingle bed. Jake's room is on the second floor with its own private balcony overlooking the water. Since House, Cuddy and Jake have to prepare for their appointment at Hopkins, the elder Houses take the younger kids to the family room.

"Oh Jacob, you look so handsome. You look just like your father when he first visited Hopkins. Doesn't he John?" Blythe beams at her eldest grandson who has not only changed into a suit, but also shaved his beard.  
John smile and replies "yes, you look like a movie star. Is that what young people wear now to interviews? "  
"It's an Irish linen suit. It's comfortable even in the hottest summer and it still looks classy enough for interviews." _[For those who are curious: Jake is wearing a cream colored linen suit and a white cotton shirt. The type of attire grooms normally wear for beach weddings.]_  
John adds "don't forget to wear a tie. You want them to take you seriously."  
"Yeah, I got one in my pocket" Jake pull out a light blue silk tie.  
House interrupts "if they judge you by the suit that you wear then they're idiots!"  
"Oh Gregory, you look so handsome too. John, can you get the camera? I want a picture of all my boys." House is wearing blue gray linen pants and a light blue cotton shirt.  
John is on his way to his study when the twins come running after him.  
"Opa! Opa! Can we go ride your boat?"  
John asks the twins "do you guys know how to swim?"  
Ethan thoughtfully replies "yeah Opa, we go swimming with Mommy and Daddy at the pool all the time."  
House shakes his head and adds "guys, this is not the same as the pool. You'll probably need to wear a (_swim_) vest or something."  
Blythe walks over to the twins and says "maybe later, after your Daddy and Mommy comes back from Baltimore."  
Charlie asks "why?"  
"Because if Opa drives the boat, nobody can keep an eye on you and Ethan."  
Charlie does his very best good boy face and replies "we'll behave Oma."  
"I'm sure you will honey. Beside, it'll be more fun if you go boating with your Daddy and Jake."  
Ethan replies "I want to go boating with Daddy and Jake."  
Jake smiles and says "great!"

Cuddy, who is wearing a beautiful strapless silk maxi dress, joins them in the family room holding Lizzy's diaper bag on one hand and her husband's suit jacket on the other. She immediately hands the jacket to House, gives him a look that says "wear the jacket and the tie or else…" and all House can do is sigh out loud.  
As Cuddy walks over to Blythe, she asks "are you sure you and John will be okay with the three kids?"  
"Don't worry Lisa, John and I will be fine. Besides my sister Jo and her husband Frank will also be here in a few minutes."  
Cuddy hands Lizzy's diaper bag to Blythe and says "okay, I'll put her milk in the fridge and if you have any questions, please call me on my cell phone."

When John comes back from his study, he takes pictures of the clan and hands House the key to his car. In a matter-of fact tone, John tells House "Mom said you needed to borrow the car."  
House is dumbstruck that his father is actually lending him his own car that all he can say is "yeah."  
Noticing that his son is a little surprised, John explains "the air conditioner in Mom's car isn't working; I figured you'll want to use my car."  
House answers "thanks."  
Jake interrupts "is that the key to the red Ford Mustang parked in the garage?"  
John laughs and replies "no son. The Mustang only sits two people, but you're welcome to take it for a spin later."  
"Cool! What model is it?"  
"It's a '65 Mustang Convertible. I restored it myself. Are you into cars?"  
Jake laughs "not really. Actually, I don't even own one."  
"Why not? How do you get around?"  
"I suppose, I just never got around to buying one. My bike gets me where I need to go for most of the time."  
"If not, I borrow Dad's car."  
House sarcastically adds "yeah, chick really dig that beat-up old mercury."  
Jake smirks and replies "I call it the Jake's 'car test.' If a girl has a problem with Dad's car, she's not worth the second date."  
The three generation of House men look at each other and laugh.

***

As always, I do appreciate all types of feedback, it's the only way I know if you love, hate or even reading this story ;-)


	21. Chapter 21

**_Author's Notes:_**_ First of all, __So sorry for the lack of update_. _It has been a very hectic summer for me, but I plan to get back into the swing of things soon. Secondly, I want to personally thank all my loyal readers who drop me notes. I greatly appreciate all your encouragements and threats ;-). Finally, a very, very big cyberhug to my wonderful beta, __**Ceciilee **for sticking through my real life drama._

***

Cuddy walks over to the twins, gives each of them a kiss and says "boys, I need you two to behave, okay? If you're good, you'll both get treats."  
Charlie asks "Mommy, can you get me a new train?"  
"We'll see."  
Ethan leans over to his Mom and whisper "may I have some of Oma's cookies?"  
"Sure. Don't make a mess and listen to Oma and Opa, okay?"  
Ethan nods his head and excitedly goes to grab a couple of cookies from the kitchen counter.

As House is waiting by the door, Cuddy hands him his jacket again.  
"Greg, you left your jacket again."  
"Why do I have to dress up? We're not even going to the interview."  
"No, but we're meeting Dr. Hellman while the panel interviews Jake."  
"Who the heck is Hellman? "  
Cuddy quickly replies "he's the Chief Physician at Hopkins Bayview. When Jake mentioned to Dr. Chang (_the Residency Program Director_) that we would both be accompanying him, she set this meeting for us."  
"Why do I want to meet him?"  
Cuddy reaches for her husband's face and says "Greg, this is very important to our son. Now is not the time to be playing one of your games."  
"I'm not playing games. Jake is the best candidate they'll ever have, he certainly doesn't need our help."  
"Jake doesn't need us as a career reference, but he needs us to be his parents. If you can't be supportive or show interest in our son's future, then maybe you should just stay here."  
House sensing his wife's disappointment replies "no, thanks. I'm sure this Hellman guy will be ten times more interesting than being with my father."

The commute from Annapolis to Baltimore is less than forty minutes and the House clan arrives with plenty of time to spare. As Cuddy visits the ladies room, House notices that his son is visibly nervous so he begins asking "who invented the stethoscope?"  
"huh? Laennec" Jake looks at his Dad quizzically.  
"Who holds baseball's record for most consecutive games played?"  
"Cal Ripken. He played in 2,632 consecutive games."  
"Who's the only U.S. president to have a PhD?"  
"Woodrow Wilson. He had a PhD in history from Hopkins."  
House smiles at his son and pats him on the back "relax. You'll do fine."  
"Thanks Dad."  
"And Jake?"  
"Yeah, Dad?"  
Out of nowhere, House gives his son a hug and tells him "you know I love you right? Your Mom and I are very proud of you. Whatever happens in there, we will always love you and we'll support you 100%."  
Jake is pleasantly surprised by his Dad's action and replies "I love you too Dad" as he walks-in to the interview room.  
Cuddy sees the father-son exchange and can't help but asks her husband "what was that about?"  
House replies "I'm being a supportive Dad. Do I get a special treat tonight?"  
Cuddy rolls her eyes and replies "we'll see."

While Jake is being interviewed by the Residency Program panel, his parents meet with Dr. Hellman.  
The chief physician politely introduces himself to both Cuddy and House.  
As Cuddy warmly greets Hellman, he reveals that he's an admirer of Cuddy's administrative work at Princeton. And informs House "I'm also a big fan of your work. We're very excited that Jacob is interested in Hopkins Bayview for his residency."  
Cuddy smiles to acknowledge Hellman's remark while House simply glares at him.  
Realizing that her husband is up to his anti-social self, Cuddy quietly thank Hellman for meeting them.  
Hellman admits "while you're both here as Jacob's parent, I'm simply thrilled to meet two distinguish colleagues. And if Jacob decides to train with us; that will simply be the icing on the cake. "  
Cuddy gingerly places her hand on her husband's and says "we all know that residency match is a life changing decision for every new doctor. Greg and I just want to make sure that we're able to give our son the best advice so he can make informed decision." Like any proud parent, Cuddy gushes about how special Jake is and how he's unlike any other candidate.  
Hellman replies "Of course. I know Jacob is unlike any candidate when I received a personal call about him from Harvard's Dean of Medicine."  
Cuddy asks surprisingly "Dr. Martin called you?"  
"Yeah, Mike and I go way back. He wanted to make sure that I take care of Harvard's top prospect."  
House, who hasn't utter a word since the beginning of the meeting sarcastically asks "is that code word for 'we want to keep him, so don't touch him'?"  
Hellman laughs heartily and answers "I wish my competitors would be so considerate. Its code for 'you better dot your I's and cross your T's or else you'll have lots of competition'." House can'thelp but smirk at Hellman's remark.  
The exchange was enough to encourage House to come out of his cocoon. He bombarded Hellman with questions about the hospital as if he's the one attending the residency training program.

The meeting lasts about an hour and their lively exchange is only interrupted by Hellman's assistant informing him that his wife has arrived.  
Shortly after, they end the meeting. As Hellman is walking them out, a female voice calls "Lisa Cuddy? Is that you?"  
Cuddy turns around to see a blonde lady and answers "oh my god! Samantha! Samatha Hiles!"  
"It's Samantha Hellman now."  
The two start chatting about a mile a minute that leave Hellman and House to exchange looks. Hellman asks "I think it's safe to conclude that your wife knows my wife."  
House nods and is about to respond when Samantha looks at him and says "you married Greg House?"  
House furrows his brows and looks over to his wife for help.  
Cuddy starts laughing and replies "Greg, do you remember Sam, my college roommate from Michigan?"  
Then House remembers Cuddy's roommate who drove him crazy with her incessant playing of Madonna's music. House smirks and says "you look different without the orange hair."  
"Yeah? Unfortunately I can't say the same about you. Minus the gray thinning hair, you look about the same" Samantha delivers her replies without missing a beat.  
By this time, Jake has joined them and Cuddy quickly introduces her son to the Hellmans.  
Samantha stands in shock and asks "your son is already in med school? How did that happened? Actually, do not answer that." She turns to give Jake a hug and whispers "I feel like I've known you your whole life. You know why?"  
A confuse Jake shakes his head.  
Samantha adds "let's just say I was an ear witness to your conception" as she smiles devilishly at House and Cuddy.

***

By the time the trio comes back to Annapolis, Lizzy is being dotted on by Blythe and Jo in the family room; while the twins are outside on the back patio with John and Frank. Jo is Blythe's twin sister, and she's happily married to Frank Donovan. Frank, like John graduated from the Naval Academy but while John served his long military career as a pilot for the Marine Corp, Frank served an equally distinguish career as member of the Navy's Judge Advocate General's (JAG) Corps. John and Frank are direct opposite in terms of personalities. While John is boisterous and used his fist to impose discipline on his only son, Frank is quite and used reason to regulate his three sons. House has fond memories of the Donovans as he remembers them as a loud but loving family. Before long, the rest of House's cousins arrived which include Jo & Frank's sons: David, Frank Jr., and Patrick and their families. Both Cuddy and Jake are pleasantly surprised by how friendly and down to earth they all are. All three Donovan boys graduated from the Academy, they all live within the Baltimore-Washington area, and they're all obsessed with Navy football. David is a psychiatrist, Frank Jr. is an attorney and Patrick is a pilot—_all of them work for the Navy_. When the adults start talking football, House's kids quickly make friends with their second cousins (which include Frank jr.'s three boys and Pat's six-month old baby girl). House being House quietly retreats to the screen-in porch to enjoy the lakeside view.

David, the oldest of the Donovan boys is a year younger than House. Growing up as military brats, they hardly saw each except holidays. However, when David attended the Academy, the two became close and House would often pick David up for their night on the town. In fact, House was very influential in convincing David to attend Hopkins after he graduated from the Academy. The two were roommates before House was expelled from Hopkins.  
David greets House "hey, G-men."  
House who is laying on one of the lounge chair replies "hey."  
"Want some beer?"  
"Sure."  
As David hands House the beer, he says "great to finally see you man. You got a lovely family so, why have you been hiding them from us?"  
House simply shrug his shoulders and replies "just haven't had time."  
"Wasn't Lisa the one you met in Michigan?"  
"Yeah, the one and only."  
"I'm glad that you two got back together. She's good for you."  
"Thanks. So, where's wife number three? Or is it number four?  
"Ex wife number three is happily married in San Diego. There will be no more wife number four."  
"That's what you said after wife number one and two."  
"I know. I just need me to find a nice woman like yours."  
House smiles as he is again reminded that in spite of all the bad things that have happened to him, he's very lucky to have a loving wife and four beautiful children.

***

As always, I do appreciate all types of feedback, it's the only way I know if you love, hate or even reading this story ;-)


	22. Chapter 22

_**Author's Notes:**__ Special thanks to my beta __**Ceciilee**__, for continuing to do such an awesome job editing this fic._

_*******_

_**Friday - 10:00PM**_

House is relieving himself in the bathroom when he hears Cuddy walking into their room.  
House yells "are all the ruggrats tuck in bed yet?"  
Cuddy walks over to the bathroom and reply "yes, they're all finally asleep."  
House washes his hands and leans over to kiss his wife.  
Cuddy crunches her face and says "you smell like beer. How many did you drink?"  
He wraps his arms around Cuddy's waist and nuzzles his face behind her shoulder. "I had a few, but Mr. Happy is ready for his reward."  
Cuddy playfully slaps his arms and replies "are you nuts? First of all, you're drunk and in case you forgot, we're in your parents' house."  
"I'm not drunk, just slightly buzz. Come on Lise, it'll be fun. I promise to be quiet."  
Cuddy rolls her eyes and replies "that's what you said the last time and we almost got kicked out during our Disney cruise."  
"Those people were idiots. Who keeps quiet during their honeymoon?"  
"Obviously, not you. Anyway, I'm tired and we have an early day tomorrow."  
"Not even a little nookie?"  
"Nope."  
"Can Mr. Happy have a special wakeup call tomorrow morning?"  
"We'll see."

_**Saturday - 7:30AM**_

After Cuddy finishes taking a shower, she walks over to wake House up.  
"Jees…Lise, it's seven o'clock."  
"It's seven-thirty. I need you to get ready so you can help me get the kids ready."  
House simply groans and goes back to sleep.  
Cuddy tries shaking him up to no avail so she decides to crawl under the sheet and give him a special wake-up call.  
In between moaning and grunting House is grinning from ear-to-ear.  
However, the two are interrupted when House's mother decides to walk into their room.  
Blythe simply opens the door when she sees her son lying on the bed awake.  
House surprisingly asks "Mom?"  
"Hi, Gregory. I'm doing laundry and I was wondering if you or Lisa has anything need washing?"  
House smirks and replies "Lisa definitely does. Why don't you ask her?"  
Blythe who has absolutely no idea that Cuddy is under the sheet in between House's legs, goes on to ask "is she in the bathroom?"  
"Hmmm..."  
Blythe notices the hesitance in House's voice and immediately asks "what's the matter Gregory?"  
House smirks and replies "you wouldn't believe it if I tell you, Mom."  
Cuddy on the other hand, decides to bite her husband's family jewel to stop him from talking.  
As House yells "jeesus christ!" in response to what Cuddy just did.  
Blythe walks closer to see what's going on with her son and notices the extra pair of feet that slips from the sheet. Blythe is so shocked and can only manage to say "oh…oh! I guess, I'll come back later."

_**Saturday 9:30AM**_

The whole House clan has breakfast at the Officers' and Faculty (O&F) Club where John proudly introduces his entire family to his navy buddies. Afterwards, they head to "The Yard" for a VIP tour of the Naval Academy. As soon as an eager midshipman welcomes the clan, Lizzy starts fussing which gives House an excuse not to join the tour.  
The midshipman asks Jake "are you planning to attend the Academy?"  
Before Jake can answer, John puts his arm around his grandson and beamingly replies "no, he's studying to be a doctor. He'll be a great doctor just like his Dad."  
Cuddy's jaw almost drops. She can't believe what she just heard and wishes that House had been around to hear it.  
The young midshipman turns to the twins and asks "what do you two want to be when you grow up?"  
Ethan answers "I'm going to be a Diagnos(_tic_)ian just like my Daddy."  
Charlie adds "and I'm going to be an astronaut so I can fly to the moon."  
John's face perk up at Charlie's response and asks "do you know who the first person to set foot on the moon?  
Jake replies "Neil Armstrong."  
John excitedly adds "yes and before he became an astronaut, he was a pilot for the Navy."  
Charlie looks up to his grandfather and asks "Opa, you're a pilot?"  
John smiles and replies "yes, I was. But you can be like Neil Armstrong—a Navy pilot and an astronaut."  
Blythe warns John "I wouldn't get too excited John. Last week, he wanted to be a train engineer."  
Cuddy laughs and adds "and the week before that, he wanted to be a plumber."

_**Saturday 3:30PM**_

After the clan gets back from "The Yard", House eagerly enters their room and heads straight to the luggage.  
Cuddy asks "what are you doing?"  
"I'm packing. If we leave now, we'll be in PA in less than two hours."  
"Greg, I promised your Mom that we're not leaving until tomorrow morning."  
"You what? Why the hell did you promise her that?"  
Cuddy walks closer to her husband. She wraps her arms around his waist, kisses him from behind and whisper "because your sweet Mom asked that we stay longer."  
"Lise, we already lost two days."  
"I know, but have you seen how happy your parents are with their grandkids."  
House knows that Cuddy is right but replies "they're old, they're happy just to be alive."  
"I'm serious Greg. You should hear your dad beaming to the guide this morning. He said that Jake is studying to be a great doctor like his Dad."  
House is about to response when the twins enter their room. While Charlie immediately heads straight to his parents' bed, Ethan gives his parents a hug and asks "can we go ride the boat with Opa?"  
Cuddy replies "sure, after you both take your nap."  
Charlie, who's now jumping up and down the bed starts whining "but I'm not sleepy. Only babies take naps."  
Cuddy answers "first of all, no jumping on the bed. Second, your Opa has been up since early this morning. We need to let him rest so he can drive the boat for us, okay?"  
Ethan replies "Okay, Mommy" while Charlie shrugs his shoulder and continues jumping on the bed  
Ethan pull his Dad's hand and whispers "Daddy, I had an accident. Can I take a bath now? "  
House asks "what kind?" as he inspects his son's short pants.  
Ethan shakes his head and points at his chest. "It's sticky from the lemonade."  
Cuddy smiles at Ethan and says "I'll give you a bath." She looks over to the other twin and says "you too."

After giving the twins a bath, Cuddy takes the boys back out to the room. She immediately sees House sleeping with little Lizzy on his chest.  
Charlie quietly asks "can I go to the living room?"  
Cuddy nods and replies "you can stay if your Oma & Opa are there. If not, you need to come back here okay?"  
Charlie nods and heads straight to the living room. Meanwhile, Ethan climbs up the bed and gently lay next to his Daddy and his sister.

As Cuddy is putting away her husband's luggage, she hears House groggily declares "if I have to stay here another night, you better rock my world tonight."  
Cuddy gently lay next to her husband and kisses him. She seductively whispers "Dr. House, when did I ever not rock your world?"  
All House can do is smile at his wife's response.  
Half hour later, Charlie has joined his parents and his siblings as they all snuggled up taking naps.

_**Saturday Night**_

After begrudgingly agreeing to join his family for a boat ride down the river, House spends much of the time snuggling up to his wife and daughter at the back of the boat. Meanwhile, John enthusiastically teaches his grandsons everything about the motorboat and the river. The twins are so excited about the Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse that they beg their Opa to go around it a couple of times. When they reach the open section of the river, John offers the helm to Jake. The young man tries it for awhile but return the wheel back to his Opa after he spots another boat nearby.  
Ethan asks his grandfather "do you ride your boat every day Opa?"  
John smile at his grandson and replies "yes. I usually ride my kayak in the morning but if your Oma wants to come along, we take this boat."  
Charlie adds "Jake has a kayak in the garage."  
"Oh yes, I forgot that you're an oarsman Jake. Even won some races, I heard."  
Jake nods and answers "yeah, back in Cambridge."  
"Do you still row?"  
"Yeah, whenever I can steal Dad's car in the morning."  
House yells from the back of the boat "I can hear you from here!"  
The conversation is interrupted after John gets a phone call from Blythe informing him that dinner will be ready in 10 minutes.  
Even though House will never admit to it, it was actually a relaxing ride. He gets to spend snuggle time with his wife, keep an eye on all his kids and successfully avoided arguing with his father.

_**Sunday**_

At the crack of dawn, House and Jake start loading their entire luggage in the bus. Meanwhile, John helps Cuddy carry the sleeping kids from their bed to the bus.  
Blythe asks House "are you sure you want to leave this early? Pennsylvania isn't that far, Gregory."  
"I know Mom, but we have to find a spot for our motor coach since we never showed up two days ago."  
Blythe simply smile as she's reminded that her son has rearranged his family vacation for her. "If I can't convince you to stay longer, then make sure you drive safely. You have very precious cargo in there."  
House nods and gives his mother a goodbye hug.

***

As always, I do appreciate all types of feedback, it's the only way I know if you love, hate or even reading this story ;-)


	23. Chapter 23

_**Author's Notes:**__ Special thanks to my beta __**Ceciilee**__, for continuing to do such an awesome job editing this fic._

_*******_

_**Three Weeks Later **_

Shortly after dinner, the House clan goes through their normal routine. Cuddy feeds baby Lizzy while House gives the twins their bath. Then the parents switch places; House rocks his little princess to sleep while Cuddy reads a book to the twins. After Lizzy has fallen asleep, House headS over to the family room to join Wilson.  
Wilson has been holding the fort while the House clan was away on their road trip.  
House asks "what are you watching?"  
Wilson replies "I'm not really sure. Jake was watching it before he left to get his laundry."  
House grabs the remote and starts channel surfing.  
Wilson asks "so, how was the family adventure?"  
House grins at best friend and pulls out a piece of paper from his back pocket. He carefully unrolls the paper to reveal a map of the US with red stars all over it.  
Wilson leans forward from his chair curious to hear what stories his friend will be sharing about the map.  
"See the red stars on the map, these are the states where I rode the USS Cuddy."  
Wilson rolls his eyes and replies "House! I don't wanna hear about your sex life!" But it didn't stop him from peeking at the map.  
"Yeah, I know. That's why you were just checking it out. I'm doing 50 by 50."  
"What the heck does that mean?"  
"I'll have all 50 states marked by the time I reach my 50th birthday."  
Wilson looks at the map and does a double take. He asks "you did not do it in your parent's home?"  
House grins and replies "you better believe it!"  
"Seriously?"  
Before House can answer, Jake walks in with a hamper full of laundry.  
Jake sits on the couch and tells his Dad "Mom wants you."  
House wiggles his brow laviciously and replies "I know. Your Mom just can't get enough of me."  
Cuddy, who is behind House simply rolls her eyes and says "Okay stud. Can you help put your daughter to bed again?" as she hands little Lizzy to House.  
House sighs aloud and asks his daughter "why are you still awake little princess?"  
Lizzy starts giggling as her father carries her back to their room.

Meanwhile, Jake notices the map on the coffee table and asks Wilson "what's this?"  
"Ah…your Dad's map."  
"Oh, it looks like all the places we stayed overnight."  
Wilson simply nods at Jake and immediately changes the topic. He asks "what time is your flight tomorrow?"  
"Eight o' clock."  
"Do you need someone to take you to the airport?"  
"No, I appreciate the offer but I already made arrangement for a cab to pick me up at six."  
"Wow! That's early. Are you ready to go back?"  
Jake shrugs his shoulder and replies "I guess. I'm sure gonna miss Mom, Dad and the little kiddies."  
Wilson laughs and adds "I know what you're saying. The house was so quiet without the twins running around. By the way, how did they manage during the road trip?"  
"Actually, not bad. We all take turns driving, and then we check-in at a local hotel so everyone could take a bath, rest and sleep for the night. The twins really enjoyed it; we went to Dutch Wonderland, Hershey Park, Strasburg Rail Road, the Crayola place, San Diego Zoo, and Legoland."  
"How about you? Did you enjoy it?"  
"Yeah, definitely! It was nice to spend quality time with Mom and Dad outside of the hospital. I wouldn't mind doing it again, maybe for a longer period of time."

_**Huddy Bedroom  
**_After about five minutes of rocking Lizzy to sleep with no success, House concludes that his daughter is not yet ready for bed. So he lay on the bed and gently places Lizzy on her stomach beside him. As House grabs a medical journal by his bedside to read to his daughter, Lizzy lifts her head to peek at her Daddy. The sight of his daughter doing a mini-pushup always brings a big smile in House's face.  
"Do you want Daddy to read for you?"  
"Baa…"  
"No, not Baa. Dada, can you say Dada for me?"  
Lizzy simply giggles and start reaching for the magazine.  
As House starts reading the journal out loud, Lizzy also joins in by babbling nonsensical words.

Cuddy, who just got off the shower, exclaims "Greg, I don't think reading about a cat who can predict death is an appropriate topic for our daughter."  
"It's not what I'm reading that matters; it's how I read it to her. She's just listening to my voice."  
"I know, that's why Ethan was asking Jake this morning on the chances of him getting metastatic testicular tumors. Ethan was also listening to your voice not what you were reading to him."  
House smirks and beamingly asks "did he really say metastatic testicular tumors?"  
Cuddy rolls her eyes and sighs out loud.  
Then out of nowhere, Lizzy says "Dada."  
House excitedly yells "did you hear that? She called me Dada."  
Cuddy heard her daughter but decides to tease her husband and replies "no, she didn't. You're just imagining things." As she snuggles closer to her husband and daughter, Lizzy reaches over to her Daddy's face and scream "Dada" to his ear.  
"I heard you the first time little princess. Next time, yell in Mommy's ear not Dada's okay?"  
Lizzy starts giggling and squealing with delight at playing with both her parent's face.

Cuddy comments "I think she knows that I'm going back to work tomorrow that's why she's not being cooperative tonight."  
"She just wants some quality time with both of us."  
"Do you think I'm making a mistake going back to work this early?"  
House looks at his wife incredulously and replies "She's almost four months old. You went back to work when the twins were barely a month old and they are turning out okay."  
"I know, but it doesn't stop me from feeling guilty of not being near her."  
"Oh, for god's sake Lise! You're only a couple of floors away from the daycare. You can sneak out in between your meetings to check on her."  
Cuddy smile and gives her husband a passionate kiss.  
House raises his brow and asks "what was that for?"  
"Oh, I don't know--maybe, for being a supportive husband?"  
House looks over to his daughter and says "okay little princess, you need to go to sleep now so Dada can show Mommy how supportive he really is" as he wiggles his brows.

_**  
Monday 7:40AM  
**_Wilson comes down to a beehive of activities on the main floor. As Cuddy is busy packing Lizzy's diaper bag, House is trying to get the twins ready for daycare.  
Wilson offers "is there anything I can do?"  
Cuddy replies "yes, I think Greg needs help."  
Wilson smiles at the sight of seeing his best friend running after Charlie, who is only wearing his underwear.

Ethan walks over to his Mommy and asks "why do we have to go to the daycare today?"  
"Honey, Mommy is going back to work today that's why you, Charlie and Lizzy are going to the daycare this week."  
Ethan gives his Mom a hug and replies "Mommy, I don't like it when you go to work. I like it when you stay at home with us."  
Cuddy kisses Ethan's head and replies "I love staying at home with you guys too but Mommy has to run the hospital. Besides, you and Charlie will be starting pre-school next week. You'll learn new things and meet kids your age."  
"We don't need school, Mommy. Daddy can teach us. He's a genius."  
Cuddy can't help but smile as she replies "okay, honey. Go tell your genius Daddy that we'll be late if he doesn't hurry up.

As Ethan enters the nursery, he sees his father preparing his and Charlie's backpacks.  
"Daddy, Mommy wants to know if you are …"  
House quickly walks to the bathroom as he heard Wilson yells "shit!"  
Ethan places his hand on his mouth and quietly tells his Daddy "Uh oh! Uncle Wilson said a bad word."  
House nods at Ethan and tells him to get the backpacks and wait for him in the kitchen.

As Ethan comes back to the kitchen with the backpacks, Cuddy asks "did you call your father?"  
"Uh huh."  
"And?"  
"Uncle Wilson is in big trouble."  
"Really?"  
The little boy nods his head vigorously and adds "he said a bad word."  
"Why?"  
Ethan shrugs his shoulder and throws both hands in the air.  
As she is about to interrogate her son for more information, she spots House. "Greg, we're going to be late. Is Charlie ready?"  
House smirks and replies "yeah, he's ready. Wilson on the other hand, not so much."  
And just on cue, a very wet Wilson appears on sight.  
Cuddy exclaims "oh my god! What happened?"  
Wilson shrugs his shoulder and replies "we had a bit of an accident."  
House immediately takes the twins to the van, just to be sure he's not in the line of fire.  
"I'm sorry, are you okay? "  
"Yeah, it's just water."  
"Are you sure?"  
"Yeah, you go ahead. I just need to change my shirt and I'll be right behind you guys."  
Cuddy picks up Lizzy and the kids bags as she prepares for her first day back to work.

_**TBC**_

***

As always, I do appreciate all types of feedback, it's the only way I know if you love, hate or even reading this story ;-)


	24. Chapter 24

_**Author's Notes:**__ Ginormous thank you to my beta __**Ceciilee**__, for continuing to do such a fantabulous job editing this fic._

_*******_

_**Mid-morning  
**_  
After taking a nap, House proceeded to check his e-mail. He quickly gets bored and starts playing with his Nintendo DS.  
A few minutes later, Wilson pops-in to his office and asks "hey, got a minute?"  
House looks up and asks "what's up?"  
"Just wanted to give you a heads up that Farell is up to his old tricks. He's been snooping around asking if you've been interviewing for your fellow positions."  
"And why should I care?"  
"He's been gunning for you. And now that Cuddy's back, he'll try to prove a point that she lets you get away with murder."  
House wags his eyebrow and replies "she does. You wouldn't believe what she let me do to her."  
"House! This is not a joke! Just interview some applicants and get this over with."  
"I can't. Don't have resumes to review."  
Wilson rolls his eyes and points at a stack of folders on the desk behind House. "In case you missed it, that stack of folder that's been gathering dust for the last three months are resumes that you need to go through."  
"Is that what they are? I just thought they were props to make me look busy."  
"Pick three applicants and I'll even set-up the interviews for you."  
House simply nods and changes the topic by asking "what happened to you this morning?"  
Wilson shakes his head and begins telling the story.  
_**  
Flashback begins  
**__By the time Wilson walks-in to help, House has caught a wiggling Charlie by the waist.  
House warns his son "you run one more time and you're going to the __daycare__ in your undies."  
Charlie puts his arms across his chest and replies "I don't wanna wear pants. They're itchy and I can't run fast!"  
Wilson gently asks Charlie "you don't have to wear pants. Will short pants be okay?"  
House sarcastically offers "yeah, I think he'll fit one of Lizzy's dress."  
Charlie nods his little head at Wilson and politely says "thank you Uncle Wilson."  
"Well, you're very welcome Charlie."  
House simply rolls his eyes and tells Wilson "he needs to brush his teeth."  
After brushing his teeth for awhile, Wilson tells Charlie "okay, it's time to spit it out now."  
But instead of spitting on the sink, Charlie tries spitting on the toilet. At this time, Wilson is picking up the towel off the floor and caught Charlie's spit on his shirt.  
Charlie immediately apologizes and offers "let me clean it for you."  
Before Wilson can say no, the boy has thrown a cup of water to his face (Charlie missed his shirt by a little bit).  
All Wilson can do is yell "shit!"  
__**Flashback end**_

_**Around noon  
**_  
Even though Wilson did a good job running the hospital while she was on maternity leave, there seem to be no end to all the paperwork that needs Cuddy's attention on her first day back. So when her husband and kids ask her to have lunch with them, she initially said no.  
However, the twins and their puppy dog eyes are no match to the mountain of paperwork piling on her desk.  
It is a beautiful sunny day so House decides that they should have a picnic in the courtyard behind Cuddy's office. As Cuddy picks up Lizzy from the daycare, the twins help their Daddy decorate the picnic table with fresh white linen and a vase of fresh flowers (both stolen from an empty room down the hall).  
Cuddy is almost in tears when she sees what her husband and the twins have done.  
Ethan asks "you like it Mommy?"  
"I love it! You guys did a great job."  
Charlie hugs his Mom and asks "are you still mad at me, Mommy?"  
"Of course not! Why should Mommy be mad at you?"  
"Because I got Uncle Wilson wet this morning."  
"Oh Charlie, I'm not mad at you. I know it was an accident.  
"I love you, Mommy. You're the bestest Mommy in the whole wide world!"  
Cuddy can't help but smile at her little kryptonite.

Ethan asks "Daddy, can we do this every day?"  
"I don't think so thing one."  
"Why?"  
"Because Daddy's mean boss won't let us do it. She's not happy unless she's slaving Daddy to work."  
"Oh Daddy, you're funny. Mommy is not mean. Right, Mommy?"  
Cuddy smiles at her son and replies "well, thank you Ethan for defending Mommy." She glares at her husband and adds, "I think what Daddy means is we can have a picnic whenever Mommy and Daddy are not busy at work."

_**Two days after  
**_The House clan plus Wilson are eating their lunch in the cafeteria when Wilson asks "So, what have you two boys been up at the daycare?"  
Ethan replies "I played the piano and Nurse Lonny says I'm a genius. Just like you, Daddy."  
House and Cuddy both smile at their son's story.  
Not to be outdone, Charlie says "I peed on Jenny's cup."  
House, Cuddy and Wilson just about choke on their lunch upon hearing what Charlie just revealed. Cuddy immediately asks "why did you do such a thing?"  
Charlie nonchalantly replies "I needed to go to the bathroom but she wouldn't let me, so I peed in her cup."  
House exclaims "good for you!" and quickly gets an elbow from his wife. He then asks "who's Jenny by the way?"  
Ethan supplies "Jenny is Charlie's teacher. She's mean, I don't like her. Nurse Lonny is nicer."  
Charlie adds "Nurse Lonny has pretty hair just like you Mommy, but not as soft and shinny. Jenny looks like Ursula (from the _Little Mermaid_)."  
House can't help but laugh at his son's remarks, but is again promptly glared at by his wife.  
Cuddy is just about to scold her husband when Lizzy starts calling "Dada! Dada! Dada!"  
House quickly picks up his daughter form her carrier and asks "yes princess, Dada heard you. Is Dada not paying enough attention to you?"  
As House is preoccupied with Lizzy, Cuddy tries to tell Charlie that what he did was unacceptable but the boy is simply oblivious and instead starts telling her "Mommy, you have pretty hair. It smells like strawberry ice cream."  
"Honey, listen to me. We need you to apologize to Jenny."  
"Why Mommy? She's mean. She locked me in the room."  
"She what?"  
"When I told her that I needed to go pee, she took me to the room and locked the door."  
Cuddy is simply shocked at hearing that piece of information that she quickly tells her husband to take the kids back to his office while she takes care of Ursula.

House asks Wilson "what got her panty all twisted?"  
Wilson quietly replies "apparently this Ursula locked Charlie in the room after he told her that he needed to pee."  
"She what? Oh, she's gonna get it. Nobody messes with Cuddy's spawns, without paying for it."  
Wilson tells his best friend "we gotta go, you have an interview at one o'clock."  
"Just cancel it."  
"House, it's already 12:55. Your interviewee is probably in your office already."  
"How am I suppose to do an interview when I have to look after these three?"  
"I'll watch over them while you're doing your interview."  
"Okay."

_**The interview  
**_House's first interview for the afternoon is a frat boy whose sentences are laced with words like "dude" and "cool."  
When House inquires if the boy knows who he was, the applicant replied "yeah, totally. You're Hank Wiggen and Alex the super model's doctor."  
"Uh-huh and that's good enough reasons to apply as my fellow?"  
"Yeah, totally."  
"You graduated at the bottom of your class so why should I hire you?"  
"The grading system is totally unfair. They're culturally bias and stuff."  
"You attended a predominantly white school. We're they bias against stupid white males?"  
"That's funny. I like you, you got a sense of humor."  
"I'm glad that you're getting something out of this cause I'm certainly not."  
"Dude, my Dad is loaded. If you hire me, he'll donate beaucoup money to this hospital."  
"See the sign on the door?"  
The young man looks over his shoulder and read the sign out load "Diagnostic Department."  
"Congratulation! Glad to see that you can read. My department is responsible for diagnosing diseases that stumps many doctors. I will give you a call when they change that sign on the door to Dean of Medicine."  
The young man is so confuse that he doesn't even realized that House is already walking him out of the office.

House walks over to Wilson's office and slumps on the couch. Wilson is playing peek-a-boo with Lizzy while the twins are busy coloring on the floor.  
Wilson asks "how was the interview?"  
"Why don't you shoot me now and put me out of my misery?"  
"That bad, huh?"  
Ethan climbs up next to his father and asks "Daddy, why do you want Uncle Wilson to shoot you?"  
"It's just a figure of speech. No one is shooting anyone."  
"Oh okay. You both are good guys, right? We only shoot bad guys, right Daddy?"  
House kisses his Ethan's head and replies "yes, thing one."  
He addresses Wilson and says "you know, my two year old son makes more sense than the idiot that I just interviewed."  
Ethan corrects his father "I'll be three in December, Daddy. And Mommy says you're not allowed to use that bad word."  
House makes a point of exaggeratedly saying "Woops!"  
Ethan pats his father's shoulder and assures him "it's okay Daddy, I won't tell Mommy."  
House can't help but smirk at his son.  
Wilson on the other hand has bad news for his friend. "House, you have another interview at two and I have a board meeting so I can't babysit."  
He is about protest to Wilson when Ethan volunteers "its okay Daddy, we'll help you."  
_**TBC**_

***

As always, I do appreciate all types of feedback, it's the only way I know if you love, hate or even reading this story ;-)


	25. Chapter 25

_**Author's Notes:**__ First of all, I would like to thank everyone for all the wonderful reviews. I greatly appreciate all your feedbacks. Secondly, I also want to express my gratitude to my wonderful and long time beta,__** Ceciilee **__f__or squeezing me in to her busy schedule. Finally, big cyber-hug to Jess for agreeing to pinch hit as my back-up beta ;-)_

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_***

Cuddy walks into House's office to tell her husband "can you keep an eye on the twins until I get back from the board meeting?"  
"Sure. And Lizzy?"  
"I'll take her back to the daycare."  
"What happened to Ursula?"  
Cuddy tells the twins to go finish coloring on the big table next door.  
Charlie protested and asks "But Mommy, I wanna know if Jenny went kaboom!"  
"Charlie nobody is going kaboom today. Go finish coloring next door and be a good boy."  
Ethan asks "I get to go back to the daycare, right? I like Nurse Lonny."  
House rolls his eyes and replies "she's a little too old to be your girlfriend."  
"Oh Daddy, you're funny. She's not my girlfriend, she's my teacher."

After the boys have settled in the conference room, Cuddy walks closer to her husband and says "I spoke to Jenny and according to her she gave Charlie a timeout for being disruptive."  
House asks "what did he do?"  
"She was teaching the alphabet to the class when Charlie decided to start doing the chicken dance."  
"Was he doing the chicken dance or I gotta pee dance?"  
"Jenny denied hearing Charlie asking to go to bathroom and didn't even have a clue that our son peed on her cup."  
"Don't tell me she drank it?"  
"Thank god no. She was away on her lunch break when I first got there so I spoke to Mrs. Kendall (_the director of the daycare_). We dispose of Charlie's handy work before Jenny got back."

"So, what's the plan?"  
"Jenny thinks that Charlie is bored to death that's why he's being very disruptive."  
"No kidding? I could have told her that a year ago."  
"I know. Charlie needs an avenue to channel all the extra energy. Ethan has his music and we just need to find something for Charlie."  
"They start pre-school next week; hopefully he will do better there."  
Cuddy shakes her head and muses "they already know their alphabets and their numbers. I'm afraid there still won't be anything to challenge them enough- we'll be in the same predicament."  
"We'll cross that bridge when we get there. For this week, we'll just have to take turns looking after him."  
"So, Ethan goes back to the daycare tomorrow?"  
House smirks and replies "you heard our little man. He's looking forward to seeing his Nurse Lonny."  
Cuddy rolls her eyes and murmurs "men!"  
House gives her a proud smirk.

_**The interview part deux  
**_House's second interview for the day arrives at exactly 2PM. Dr. Pete Calhoun attended the University of Michigan for his undergrad and med school. He immediately introduces himself as a fan of House's work and goes on to recite journal articles that House has authored. House pretty much zones out after the first five minutes due Dr. Calhoun's monotone voice which reminds him of Ben Stein. He looks over to the conference room and notices that Ethan is still coloring while Charlie has plastered his face on the glass wall and is busy making fishy faces. House pretended to be reading Dr. Calhoun's resume to stop himself from laughing at his son's antics.

Few minutes later, Ethan curiously looks at the man sitting across from his father. He quietly walks into the office and begins climbing up his Daddy's lap.  
Dr. Calhoun stops for a few seconds, initially confuse by the Ethan's presence.  
House unapologetically looks at Dr. Calhoun to continue.  
Ethan whispers to his father "Daddy, what's wrong with him?"  
House looks at his son's eyes as if to inquire what made the boy ask that question. Then he quickly notices the uneasiness in Dr. Calhoun's demeanor.  
House leans over to his son and whispers "you have five."

'Five' is a game that House plays with his sons. He basically gives the twins five minutes to ask all the questions they want. House has just given Ethan the signal to target poor Dr. Pete Calhoun.

Ethan asks "what's your name?"  
Dr. Calhoun curtly replies "Pete" and continues with his pedantic speech.  
"I'm Ethan. I'll be three in December."  
Dr. Calhoun simply ignores Ethan and asks House "does he have to be here?"  
"Does he bother you?"  
"I'm just not comfortable around kids."  
"Let me guess, been doing research for the last few years huh?"  
Dr. Calhoun nods his head.  
House whispers to Ethan "go wait for me in the other room."  
Ethan protested "but I didn't get my five?"  
"You'll get it later."  
As Ethan leaves, House tells Dr. Calhoun "unfortunately, kids do get sick and you know…we kindda need to cure them too." House opens his front door and says "thanks for coming."

_**The interview part trois  
**_House's third and final interview for the day arrives at around 3PM. Since he has pretty much lost any hope of finding a decent fellow, he decides to let the twins loose and hide in the balcony. But not before turning the webcam on and ensuring that the twins are properly situated behind his desk.

Abigail Maris nervously enters House's office and sees the twins seating behind their father's desk.  
"Hey, do you know if Dr. House is around?"  
Charlie answers "yeah, he went that way" pointing towards Wilson's office.  
Ethan adds "he'll be back. What's your name?"  
"I'm Abbey. What's your name?"  
Charlie interrupts "I'm SpongeBob and he's Patrick."  
Ethan whispers to his brother "that's not our name."  
"I know. Remember, we're not supposed to talk to strangers. If we don't tell her our name, then it's okay."  
Ethan looks at his brother as if he just grew a second head.  
Charlie continues "my brother is shy."  
Ethan replies "no, I'm not."  
Abbey smiles and replies "well, it's nice to meet you SpongeBob and you too Patrick."

Ethan quickly notices the tattoos on Abbey's arms and asks "why do you have doodles on your arm?"  
Charlie adds "did you run out of paper?"  
"Oh no, these are called a tattoos and it was the 'in thing' back in college."  
Ethan inquisitively asks "your Mommy never made you wash it off?"  
"No, they're not washable."  
Ethan asks "so, it'll be there forever and ever?"  
"Yes."  
Charlie asks "what if you don't like them anymore?"  
Abbey simply shrugs her shoulder.  
Ethan points at a word on her arm and asks "what does that say?"  
"It says 'Green Day' and added "it was my favorite band back then."  
Ethan asks "what's a band?"  
"It's a group of people that play instrument and make music."  
"I play the piano. Do you play anything?"  
"Yeah, I play the base. I actually have a band."  
Charlie asks "what does your band do?"  
"We play all types of music."  
Charlie jumps off from chair and declares "I like the Wiggles. You like Wiggles?"  
Abbey smile and replies "No, I'm not familiar with the Wiggles."

Meanwhile, Wilson returns from his board meeting and quickly notices his best friend out in the balcony.  
Wilson goes out to join him and asks "what the heck are you doing?"  
"Shhh…the twins are interviewing an applicant."  
"Have you gone insane?"  
"If you don't keep your voice down, then you can't join me here."  
Wilson follows where House is gazing and quickly realizes that his friend is watching the interview from his laptop. Wilson decides to join in and adds "what the heck, they're probably doing a better job than you ever will."

Ethan asks "are you a doctor?"  
"Yes, I'm a psychiatrist."  
"What's that?"  
"I treat people with mental problem."  
"My Daddy is a diag(nos)tician."  
"Yes, he's a renowned doctor."  
"What's that mean?"  
"He's famous around the world."  
Ethan nods and replies "yeah, my Daddy is a genius!"  
"Oh, really?"  
"Yeah, my Daddy can fix anything. He is the bestest doctor in the world!"  
"I'm sure he is."  
"Will you be working for my Daddy?"  
"I hope so."

Charlie starts dancing and asks "do you like monster trucks?"  
"I don't think so."  
"Do you like green eggs and ham?"  
"Uh…I don't know. I've never had it before."  
Ethan asks "do you know my Mommy?"  
"Uh…I don't think so."  
Charlie adds "my Mommy has pretty hair. It smells like strawberry ice cream and it's shiny."  
Ethan asks "why do you have boys' hair?"  
"Huh? You mean why I have short hair?"  
Ethan nods.  
Charlie, who's now crawling under the desk, yells "you have Flounder on your foot!"  
Abbey smiles and lifts her left foot to show the twins her Flounder tattoo.

Charlie excitedly asks "do you have dinosaurs?"  
"No, no dinosaurs. But I have a dragon on my back. Do you wanna see it?"  
The twins (and the two men in the balcony) uniformly reply "yes."  
As Abbey turns around and pulls her skirt down a little to reveal a dragon tattoo on the small of her back, Cuddy walks into House's office.  
Cuddy is so shocked at what Abbey is showing that she quickly covers her boy's eyes.  
The boys simultaneously yell "Moom!"  
Abbey tries to explain "I was just showing them my…"  
Cuddy cuts her off and replies "I think you've shown my boys enough. Please leave now!"  
Abbey begs "may I at least leave my resume for Dr. House?"  
"Oh, I'm sure he has it on file."

As the two male doctors see Cuddy's reaction to Abbey, House quickly walks back into his office.  
Wilson is too chicken so he quietly returns back to his own office with House's laptop.  
Cuddy glares at her husband and asks "did you just have our three year old sons do your bidding?"  
"No, they had some questions and I encouraged them to ask them."  
"She was showing her booty to our sons."  
"No, she was showing her dragon tattoo to the boys."  
"She could have been a psycho. You needlessly put our three year old sons in harm's way just so you can play your games."  
"You're over reacting. I was a few feet away. I heard every word of their conversation. It was clean fun."  
"You want to play games while hiring a team? Fine! I don't care how you do it. Just leave our children out of it!

_**Later that afternoon**_

Cuddy tries to gives her husband the silent treatment, but it didn't stop House from trying to get his wife to talk by asking the twins "so, what did you learn about the girl you spoke to this afternoon?"  
Cuddy glares at her husband and mutters "unbelievable!"  
Ethan replies "she has doodles on her arms and has boys' hair. I don't think her Mommy will like that she can't wash her doodles off. And you know Daddy?  
"What Ethan?"  
"She smells funny."  
"Does she?"  
Ethan nods his little head vigorously.  
"She smells like that thing on top of the trashcan outside the hospital."  
Cuddy offers "an ash tray?"  
"Yes, an ash tray."  
Charlie disagrees and adds "I like her. She has Flounder on her foot and a dragon on her back."  
Ethan argues "I don't like her because she smells like stinky feet. Daddy, doesn't Mommy smell the bestest?"  
House smiles and replies "yeah, Mommy smells so good enough to eat."  
He adds "well, thank you boys for helping Daddy with his interviews."  
Ethan replies "you're very welcome Daddy. I like asking questions."  
Cuddy replies "boys, you're only allowed to ask questions to strangers when Mommy and Daddy are in the same room."  
Charlie exclaims "its okay Mommy. I told the lady that my name is SpongeBob and he's Patrick."  
Ethan asks "why can't I be SpongeBob?"  
"Because I'm older."  
"No you're not. I'm older than you."  
"But today is backward day!"  
"Huh?"  
Both House and Cuddy can't help but laugh at their boys.

***

As always, I do appreciate all types of feedback, it's the only way I know if you love, hate or even reading this story ;-)


	26. Chapter 26

_**Author's Notes:**__ Again, a very big thank you to my beta,__** Ceciilee **__f__or taking the time to edit this fic. _

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_***

_**Lost in Boston**_

After reporting to Mass General Hospital for duty Monday afternoon, Jake is informed that the hospital is not expecting him for another six months. After much search for an answer at HMS' offices he finally learns that they messed up his schedule and he needs to report to Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) instead. Unfortunately for Jake, BWH's clinical rotation for med student began a week ago so he's off to a rough start. And to make matters worse, he spends much of the Tuesday waiting for someone to process his paperwork.

A nurse informs her supervisor of a med student who's been waiting the whole morning for someone to process his paperwork.  
"Does he know that he's a week late?"  
"He brought a letter from HMS explaining of a schedule mix-up."  
"Well, we can help him with the administrative stuff but an attending need to give him the orientation."  
"I'll call Dr. Castro and see what she thinks."  
The nurse supervisor walks out of the office in search of the poor med student. There is only one person in the waiting room playing with a Nintendo DS so she approaches him.  
"Are you the med student who needs to be process?"  
Jake looks up and replies "yes, ma'am."  
"Did you fill-up all your forms yet?"  
"Yes, ma'am"  
She takes a quick glimpse at the forms that Jake hands her and says "follow me."

After about ten minutes of silence, the nurse intensely looks at Jake and asks "is your Momma the same Lisa Cuddy that did her residency at Mass General?"  
"Yes, ma'am"  
"Do you remember me?"  
Jake stutters "no, ma'am"  
The woman starts laughing and says "of course you wouldn't. You were a baby back then. My name is Sandy, Sandy McCain and I use to work with your Momma at Mass Gen. Whenever your mother was working late, your mom would leave you with me. You would play and sleep underneath the nurse's station desk."  
Jake is pleasantly surprised at Nurse Sandy's revelation.  
She asks "you're now in med school? Gahh, I can't believe I'm that old."  
Jake nods and smiles at the older nurse's statement  
Sandy quickly checks Jake's forms and asks him "how's your mother?"  
"She is doing very well, ma'am."  
"Come on Jacob. You're a week late but I'll get you situated in no time."  
"Thank you, ma'am."  
Sandy doesn't just bring Jake around to the various offices to drop his forms but she charms various staff into processing them while she waits. The two catch-up on news and Sandy is ecstatic to hear that the young Lisa Cuddy she knew twenty some years ago is now a successful doctor—a Dean of Medicine at that. As she promised Jake, she has all his paperwork ready to go in no time. But not before taking him to Dr. Kessler's office.  
The bespectacled doctor looks up at the imposing black woman who just entered his office and smile.  
He takes a quick look at Jake and asks "don't tell me one my med student has already broken your rules."  
"Not this time. This is Jacob House, one of your new med students. HMS screwed up again, so this one is a week late."  
"Oh, okay." Dr. Kessler looks at Jake and says "well, you already have your ID. I guess, we now know who Nurse Sandy's new favorite is" he teasingly adds.  
Sandy rolls her eyes and sarcastically replies "who could not love all your med students equally?"  
She hands a folder to Dr. Kessler and says "I have to take him to Dr. Castro before she leaves for the day, do you think you can spare a few minutes with Jacob afterwards?"  
Dr. Kessler smiles and quickly replies "sure." Sandy McCain is not only the head nurse administrator in BWH, but more importantly she's Kessler's trusted 'enforcer' who ensures that the hospital operates smoothly. And Sandy never arranges for the hospital administrator to have one-on-one meeting with a med student so Kessler is more than curious to find out why.  
As Sandy and Jake leave the office, Kessler reads Jake's personnel file.

***

_**New week, new beginning**_

Cuddy quietly moves her sleeping daughter from the nursery to their bedroom and comes back to wake the twins up.  
"Good morning boys. Guess what's today?"  
Ethan opens his eyes and groggily replies "first day of pre-school."  
"Yes! Aren't you excited? You'll get to meet new friends, new teachers, and learn new things."  
Ethan hugs his mom anxiously while Charlie bolts out of his bed and replies "cool!"  
Cuddy adds "oh, and someone special is here to see you two."  
The two boys' eyes light up and ask "who Mommy?"  
Cuddy coyly replies "hmmm…I don't know."  
As Lina peeks through the door, the two boys yell "Yaya Lina!"  
They excitedly hug Lina and start telling her what they did during vacation.

After letting the boys spend quality time with Lina, Cuddy dresses them up in matching get-ups of long sleeve t-shirts, blue jeans, and Nike shoes. As the boys eat breakfast, Cuddy goes back to their bedroom and softly wakes her husband.  
"Greg, you wanna say goodbye to the twins before they head to pre-school?"  
House groggily grunts "uh-huh."  
Cuddy coxes her husband "come on big boy, you can go back to sleep after we leave."  
Shortly after, House joins his family in the kitchen. He warmly welcomes Lina back and declares "I can go back to being the king of my **House**_hold_ again!"  
Cuddy explains "he had to help with the kids when you were gone. So, he thinks he can now go back to being lazy."

Charlie asks "are you coming to our school today Daddy?"  
"Yeah, I'll be picking you two up later."  
Lina asks "will they be in school the whole day?"  
"No, they're attending half-day pre-school Monday through Friday."  
"Will they be in the daycare afterwards?"  
Cuddy hesitantly answers "we're not sure about that part yet. Why?"  
"Elsa got the student assistant job at the hospital daycare. She starts this afternoon."  
"Oh that's wonderful! If Elsa is there, I'll let the boys go back to daycare."  
"I think that will be great too. She's very nervous that the kids will not like her."  
"Oh, tell her not to worry. I'm sure she'll do fine."  
House interrupt "if she can handle these two, the rest of the kids are a cakewalk."

During the drive to school, Cuddy tells the twins that their school is only a walking distance from the hospital so she or their Daddy can easily pick them up at noon.  
Charlie excitedly asks "Daddy said I can play with mudpies."  
Cuddy hesitantly replies "yes, you'll have pottery class once a week. I'm sure your Daddy will be happy to assist you in making mudpies."  
Cuddy looks at the rearview mirror to check on Ethan who has remain quiet throughout the drive.  
"And Ethan, you will love their music room. They have all types of musical instruments and teachers to teach you how to play them."  
Charlie replies "cool! Can I play the drums Mommy?"  
"Of course, honey."

As they enter the lobby, they were warmly greeted by Dr. Kobayashi (_the principal_) and some teachers. One of the teachers informs Cuddy "morning pre-school is at room 104. There are already several kids in the room, so the boys can play with them."  
While Charlie excitedly checks out his classroom, Ethan refuses to let go of his Mommy's hand**.**  
Cuddy asks Ethan "do you want Mommy to stay with you for awhile?"  
Ethan nods his head and hides behind Cuddy.  
Shortly after Charlie starts making friends with the other kids, Ethan begins letting go of Cuddy's hand.  
Ethan points at the train set nearby and Cuddy encourages him to "go ahead."  
Ethan takes a few steps towards the train set but continues to check on his Mom every few seconds.  
Few more minutes later, Charlie pulls his brother's hand and introduces him to the other kids.

***

The PPTH lecture hall is filled with forty perspective fellows with number tags around their necks. House warns them that "this will be the longest job interview of your life. I will test you in ways that you will often consider unfair, demeaning and illegal. And you will often be right."

Meanwhile, Nurse Brenda hands Cuddy a stack of staff authorization forms.  
"What are these?"  
"Authorization forms for all the new hires."  
"I didn't authorize the hiring of these much staff."  
Brenda raises her brows and replies "well, someone forgot to tell House that he doesn't have 40 openings."  
"40 fellows? He can barely manage the three he had the last time. Do you by any chance know where he's hiding these 40 fellows?"  
"The only room where he can fit them" as Brenda points to the lecture hall.

Cuddy enters the lecture hall, crosses her arms in front of her chest and calls "House?"  
House smiles and goes to meet her by the entrance.  
"What can I do for you, boss?"  
"Did you forget how to count to three?"  
"I've got a budget for three, doesn't mean I can only hire three."  
"Actually that's exactly what it means."  
"I cut the permanent salaries by 10 percent, over 3 years that'll more than make up for the breakage on the 27 that I'm going to weed out over the next few weeks."  
"There's forty people in there."  
House looks inside the lecture theatre and says "Row D, you're fired. Sorry, I didn't actually count all the resumes.  
"This is stupid, you can't manage that many people, you're just going to keep weeding them out arbitrarily."  
"Sure. And interviewing them one by one in my office is a much better system?"

When a pretty brunette with the #19 tag walks by him, House stops her and asks "were you in Row D?"  
Number 19 says "yes."  
"My apologies, my boss says I'm being arbitrary and stupid." He sticks his head back in the lecture hall and yells "row D is not fired, row C is fired."  
House smiles at Cuddy as the row D people start to go back into the lecture hall and row C starts to leave.  
House beamingly says "See? That was not arbitrary."  
Cuddy is about to reply when House's pager goes off.  
He tells his wife "well, I'd love to chat but I've been paged." After picking up his pager and looking at it, he adds "that's interesting, I apparently paged myself."

***

As always, I do appreciate all types of feedback, it's the only way I know if you love, hate or even reading this story ;-)


	27. Chapter 27

_**Author's Notes:**__ Again, a very big thank you to my beta,__** Ceciilee **__f__or taking the time to edit this fic. _

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_***

_**Back in Beantown**_

Jake arrives at Brigham and Women's Hospital at exactly 7:30AM. He figures he'll give himself half-hour cushion in search for Dr. Castro who promises to assign him his mentor for the next twelve weeks. But before heading to the ER, Jake drops by to say hi to Nurse Sandy. Unfortunately, Sandy isn't in yet so he leaves a bouquet of flowers and a thank you card on her desk.

As Jake is waiting for Dr. Castro, he notices a couple of young med students nearby.  
He greets them "hey, how's it going?"  
The young man of East Asian descent replies "good and you?" while the petite Asian lady simply nods at him.  
"I'm doing well. You two are med students?"  
"Yeah, we're both third year at HMS. You?"  
"Fourth year at HMS too. You've already been assigned a mentor?"  
She sarcastically replies "yeah, we're the lucky two who has been assigned to the (in)famous Dr. Wesley. And you?"  
"I don't know yet. They mixed-up my schedule" Jake explains what happened.

The girl replies "so sorry to hear that. Even sorrier that you'll probably be stuck with Wesley too."  
"Really?"  
She explains "all the experienced mentors have already been assigned at least five students each. Since Dr. Wesley is an intern (_first year resident_), he has the two of us."  
Jake shrugs his shoulder and replies "in my experience, your assigned mentors don't really matter since you'll be moving from one clinical (rotation) to another every few weeks."  
"That makes sense. So far, we've been going on rounds with other groups but always under the supervision of an attending. And yesterday we shadowed Dr. Wesley in the ER."  
"So, how do you both like clinical rotation?"  
The lady replies "it's a good break from the classroom."  
While the young man adds "I can't wait to actually talk to patients and stuff."  
Jake smiles and nods at their responses. "By the way, I'm Jake. Jake House."  
The young man introduces himself "my name is Vinish Balakrishna. You can call me Ish."  
"Well, nice to meet you Ish."  
The young girl identifies herself as Mitsuko but prefers to be called Haley.  
Jake raises his brows but thinks it's best not to ask.

And true to Haley's prediction, Dr. Castro assigns Dr. Wesley to be his mentor.  
Dr. Castro explains "I know you're in your fourth year of med school and having an intern as a mentor might not sound appealing but take it as a learning experience. Besides, all residents work as a group under supervision of an attending or a Department head."  
Jake shrugs his shoulder "I understand."

After informing Ish and Haley that he'll be joining them, both are very excited to have someone who has been through what they're about to go through.  
Ish quickly warns Jake that "Dr. Wesley is a stickler for punctuality."  
"Was that why you were both here at 730 this morning?"  
"Yeah, Dr. Wesley is an intern so he works lots of double and evening shifts. Since he practically lives here, he's always early."  
Jake smiles and replies "Ok. That's one good thing about being med student we don't have to work those hours."

Shortly after, Dr. Wesley arrives with a scowl on his face.  
He points at Jake and asks "are you my new med student?"  
"Yes, sir."  
"I assume you're also a clerk (third year med student)?"  
But instead of inquiring what he meant by a clerk, Jake answers "no sir. I'm a sub I (sub-intern)."  
Dr. Wesley is surprise that Jake is familiar with hospital lingo and looks at him intently. His brain immediately goes on warp speed to speculate that his boss is beginning to trust him with a fourth year med student.

_**  
Full House**_

With a bigger team, House realizes that he has more people to not only do his bidding but also hide things from Cuddy. While she's not amused by House's work shenanigans, she lets it slide because she's happy to see her husband getting excited about work again. As much as House will never admit to it, he really took the departure of his old team hard. For the last three months, he retreated to the only cocoon he knows is safe—_his family_. He mentors Jake on the finer points of medicine; he imparts his love for music on Ethan; he shares his unique sense of humor with Charlie, and shows his gentle side with Lizzy.

In a matter of two weeks, House has weeded down his candidate pool to the last ten finalists. While the team seats around in the office waiting for House to show up, their boss is busy with pre-school.

_**Flashback begins  
**__Cuddy is busy rummaging through House's closet when he walks into their bedroom.  
"What are you doing?"  
"I'm trying to look for some old t-shirts that you no longer use."  
Before House can answer, Cuddy finds several of House's band t-shirts and says "here you go."  
"Hey, those are my band t-shirts."  
"Greg, you haven't worn them since college. Can you even fit into them?"  
"Of course!"  
Cuddy raises her brows and dares him to put it on. "If it fits, you can keep it."  
House put on the vintage Rolling Stone t-shirt snugly and beamingly says "see. I can still wear it!"  
Cuddy rolls her eyes since the t-shirt is so tight, House can barely move in it. "Take it off, before it cuts off your circulation" warns Cuddy.  
House quickly takes the shirt off and tells Cuddy "these are vintage shirts, you know how much these would cost on e-bay?"  
"No, and I don't want to know. I just need two adult size t-shirts for the boys to wear for their pottery class tomorrow."  
"Oh, I guess the boys can have my shirts."  
"Really?"  
"Yeah."  
"Good! By the way, I also sign you up as a parent volunteer for tomorrow's class."  
"The only time thing I'll do in a pottery class is you!" as wiggle his brows laviciously.  
__**Flashback ends  
**_  
House finally shows up for work at around 1:30 but not before picking up a case for his team to work on. He tosses copies of the patient's file to members of his team as he describes their new patient.  
The patient is a wheelchair-bound man with muscular atrophy who is slowly suffocating. He divides his team into two groups and whoever can properly diagnose the patient gets to keep his/her job for another week.

While his team is busy with their assignments, he decides to pay his wife a visit.  
"Good morning, Dr. Cuddy" he says as he makes himself comfortable on Cuddy's sofa.  
"House, it's past two o'clock in the afternoon."  
"Is it? Funny how time flies when you're having fun."  
"Does that mean you had a fun time with the boys?"  
"Yeah, you should see what Charlie did. That kid's got talent, Lise" House beamingly informs his wife.  
Cuddy smiles and asks "what did you guys do?"  
"Apparently they had the kids made an imprint of their hands or feet on wet clay last week. Today, the kids were supposed to paint them and parents could help their kids write their name."  
"So, what did Charlie do with his imprints?"  
"What imprints? He made a dinosaur out of his wet clay and today he painted it by himself."  
"And Ethan?"  
He smirks and replies "Ethan painted his hands imprint blue and white. Then he wrote his name besides it. My sons are the only kids in the entire class who can not only write their names by themselves, but did not need help from their Daddy."  
Cuddy rolls her eyes and asks "you mean 'our' sons?"  
House dismissingly replies "minor detail." He reaches over to his back pocket and pulls a paper airplane and throws it to Cuddy across the room.  
Cuddy sighs and says "very mature."  
"No, read it. The art teacher gave it to me."  
She unrolls the paper, reads it and sets it aside.  
House walks towards Cuddy's desk and asks "what do you think?"  
Cuddy hesitantly says "I don't know. He's too young."  
"Come on Lise. It's perfect! You were the one who said he needs something to channel all that energy."  
"I know. But Greg he's not even three."  
"Ethan has music and now Charlie can have art."  
"You mean pottery?"  
"Actually, last year it was playdoh, now its clay. Our son could be the next Michelangelo."  
"Hold on; let's not get too far ahead of ourselves. We can take him next week and see if he likes it."  
"Cool! With that, my work is done."  
But before House can leave, Cuddy reminds him "you still owe me two hours of clinic this week."  
"Is there anything else you want to pile on to make my life miserable?"  
"Yes, don't forget that my family is visiting this weekend."  
House frowns and gives an exaggerated sigh as he exits her office.

***

As always, I do appreciate all types of feedback, it's the only way I know if you love, hate or even reading this story ;-)


	28. Chapter 28

_**Author's Notes:**__ Again, a very big thank you to my beta,__** Ceciilee **__f__or taking the time to edit this fic. _

_**  
You win some, you lose some  
**_  
House dramatically enters Cuddy's office again—now demanding that she approve an eye-removal surgery for his patient.  
Cuddy, who's currently in a meeting with Wilson, replies "no. Not until you do a biopsy and has proof that he has cancer."  
"Why waste time on proof? Unless, you want my patient to die."  
"Of course not!"  
But before Cuddy can argue some more, House is already barking orders on the cell phone to his team "to go ahead with the surgery." Then he asks Wilson "you wanna watch me cut some cripple's eye out?"  
All Cuddy can do is sigh out loud.

***

Later that evening, after giving the twins their bath House receives a phone call from his team giving him an update about their patient. House is only distracted for less than ten minutes, but it is enough for the twins to find trouble. While playing with his monster truck remote, Charlie bumps into the coat rack that holds his father's jacket. The jacket falls, along with the Kershaw Leek knife that House confiscated from one of his clinic patients earlier that day. When Ethan attempts to hang back the jacket, he spots the knife and points it to his brother. Charlie immediately figures out how to open the blade and is in the process of showing it to his brother when Wilson catches glimpse of the knife.  
Wilson calmly asks "Charlie, I want you give me the knife."  
The boy tries to argue "but we just found it over there."  
"Knives are very dangerous and you don't want to hurt yourself with it."  
Ethan nervously tells his brother "we're not allowed to play with knives."  
By this time, both Cuddy and House has joined in after hearing all the commotion.  
House is about to crack a joke about Wilson playing with wives when he realizes that his son is actually holding a very sharp knife.  
He sternly tells Charlie to slowly put down the knife on the floor.  
Sensing the seriousness in his father's voice, Charlie quickly does as told.  
And Cuddy swiftly takes the boys to their room and embraces them tightly. She gently combs their hair with her fingers to both calm them and reassure herself that they're both safe.

Wilson asks House "your knife?"  
"No, I confiscated it from a clinic patient."  
"The one who stuck his knife into the outlet?"  
"Yeah."  
"Why did you take it home?"  
"I don't know. I was playing with it and I must have left it in my jacket."  
"You know, the boys could have hurt themselves."  
House murmur to himself "and Lise would have never forgiven me if that had happened."  
Wilson realizing that his best friend is still a little shaken; pats House on the shoulder and jokingly replies "well, she would make sure that you can swap afterlife stories with your clinic patient."

Cuddy wakes up at around midnight and decides to get some water in the kitchen. She notices that the TV is still on and immediately knows that House has fallen asleep in front of the TV.  
She walks over and says "Greg, why don't you go to bed?"  
House groggily wakes up and says "okay."  
When he enters their bedroom, he notices that the twins are sleeping on their bed. And is instantly reminded of what had occurred earlier that night.  
Cuddy asks "we can move them back to the nursery, if you want."  
House shakes his head "no, let them sleep with us tonight."

House heads in to the bathroom, closes the toilet lid and slumps his body over it.  
Cuddy immediately knows that something is bothering her husband.  
"Greg, what's wrong?" as she follows him to bathroom.  
She reaches over and rubs his back. He gently puts his arms around her waist and whispers "I'm sorry."  
"It's okay, we had a close call, but nothing happened."  
"I don't know what I was thinking bringing that thing home. The boys could have seriously gotten hurt."  
"Where did you even get that knife?"  
"I had a patient earlier today. He was about Jake's age. He pulled that knife out and stuck it in the electric socket in front of me."  
"Oh my god! Was he okay?"  
"I was able to revive him in time, but it's what he said that I found interesting."  
"He was probably a very disturb young man."  
House shakes his head and explains "he was in a car accident a few days ago and was clinically dead for 97 seconds."  
"So, he had a near death experience and liked it so much that he wants to replicate it again?"  
House nods his head and adds "he said that it was the happiest that he's ever been."  
"And you believed him?"  
House simply shrugs his shoulder.  
She pulls away just enough to be able to gaze into her husband's blue eyes and asks "you weren't seriously thinking of testing his theory, right?"  
"I…I don't know."  
Cuddy has know her husband long enough to recognize his insatiable need to push boundaries, or to experiment with patient's or his own life just to solve the puzzle. She jokingly warns him "if you're even contemplating making me a widow anytime soon, I will personally resuscitate you just so I can kill you myself."  
A smirk appears in House's face as he realizes that it's his wife way of telling him 'no harm, no foul.'

***

The following day House is back to his playful self, pushing his team to outdo each other. While his team subject the patient to multiple tests in order to prove their diagnosis, House fires and un-fires members of the team. When House is finally convinced that the patient is suffering from pneumonia, he orders his team to start the patient on corticosteroids and heads straight to the Off-Track Betting (OTB) place. Shortly after, he receives a call from his team that the patient died quietly with his faithful dog by his side.  
"What do you mean? The dog stayed with him when he died?"  
"Actually, the dog died a few minutes after his owner. It probably died of grief."  
"That's the most idiotic thing I have ever heard! What type of dog does he have?"  
"A Collie" and adds "that breed has a defect in the MDR1 gene."  
"Did anyone saw the patient swallow the threadworm pill earlier?"  
"Yes. No. I don't know."

A later search of the room reveals that the patient did not take the threadworm pill, but the dog did. While an autopsy of patient also reveals that he had Strongyloides, confirming an earlier diagnosis. House confronts candidate #13 for failing to watch the patient take his pills but does not fire her. He does, however, fire the other three members of girls' team (the twins & the vet). Now the candidate pool is down to seven (#6/9 Kutner, #13 Thirteen, #18 Big Love, #24 CTB, #26 Scooter, #37 Grumpy, and #39 Taub). A few hours later, House also learns that the clinic patient that electrocuted himself also passed away.

House comes home hoping to get some peace and quiet after a depressing day. But instead he sees his driveway has been transformed into a parking lot—_a feat not easy to accomplish since he owns a three-car garage_. After entering through the front door, he is warmly greeted with "Hi Daddy!" by a group of kids.  
House has to do a double take and check his surroundings again after seeing four dark haired kids running around.  
Cuddy quickly welcomes her husband with a kiss and says "we have company."  
He sarcastically replies "really? I can't tell by the number of cars blocking my garage door."  
"Behave yourself. They'll be here for the entire weekend."  
"Lise, did you know you brought home two extra kids from the daycare?"  
Cuddy rolls his eyes and says "they're Dr. Chang's twins. The boys invited them for a play date."  
"Are they staying for the weekend too?"  
"No, Dr. Chang is in the family room chatting with Wilson."  
"Who else is here? There are at least six cars on our drive way."  
"My sister Rachel, Mom and Harry, Jake and his friends."  
"Spawn #1 is home?"  
"Yeah, he drove down for the long weekend."  
"So, what's wrong with him?"  
"What do you mean?"  
"He doesn't just come for a long weekend."  
"He's excited to meet his Aunt Rachel."  
"Right. And I bet he's saving himself for marriage too"  
"Stop being crabby and say hi to everyone" as Cuddy drags her husband to the kitchen.  
_**TBC**_

***

As always, I do appreciate all types of feedback, it's the only way I know if you love, hate or even reading this story ;-)


	29. Chapter 29

_**Author's Notes:**__ I just want to give an enormous thank you to my fabulous beta,__** Ceciilee **__f__or finding time in her busy schedule to edit this fic. Also, a big cyber hug to all my loyal readers. Thank you so much for your continued support, please keep those feedback coming. _

_*******_

_**The apple doesn't fall far from the tree  
**_Later that evening, House walks down to the basement to spend quality time with his eldest son.  
"Hey Dad."  
"How come you're not out partying with your friends?"  
"You mean Paul and gang?"  
House nods  
"They're driving down to Charlottesville for the weekend."  
"So, they just came over just to say hi?"  
"Yeah, and borrow some of my camping gear."

"So, how's med school?"  
Jake shurgs his shoulder and replies "okay, I guess."  
"You're still enjoying your rotation at Mass General, right?"  
Jake hesitantly answers "actually, they had a scheduling mix-up. I've been doing my rotation at Brigham and Women's Hospital instead."  
"That bad huh?"  
"I never said it was bad."  
"Of course, the kid who calls his mother every week like clockwork just stop calling. And the same kid who e-mails his Dad about his coolest disease of the week simply forgets to mention that he's been assigned to another hospital."  
"I called Mom. Not as often, but I called. I just didn't want to bother you two."

"Bother us with what? Please don't tell me you've knock up some broad."  
"No! I'm not seeing anyone, Dad."  
"Ok, are you at least spending your fourth year of med school like I used to?"  
"What did you used to do?"  
"Show up for attendance and then leave after 30 minutes to hang out with my bodacious girlfriend."  
Jake makes an ewww face at the mental picture of his parents making out then he asks "they let you get away with that?"  
House nods and asks "have you heard of FYiGMI?"  
"No, what does that mean?"  
"It stands for 'Fuck-You I-Got-My-Internship' and that was pretty much our attitude after match day."  
Jake laughs and replies "I'm just six weeks into my fourth year so, I'm still a gunner."  
House smirks and replies "you'll always be a gunner! Blame your Mom's overachiever gene for that."  
Jake simply nods.  
House inquires "what rotation have you done so far?"  
"I did ICU (_Intensive Care Unit_) the first four weeks. And I was suppose to do four weeks at Cardiology but I got stuck in EM (_Emergency Medicine_)."  
"What do you mean you got stuck?"  
"Since I joined the group a week late, I've just…"  
"Been getting the short end of the stick?"  
"Something like that."  
"Wanna talk about it?"  
"Not really."  
House nods and asks "wanna have your ass kicked by your old man in Grand Theft Auto?"  
A hint of smile appears on Jake's face and he replies "bring it on."

About half hour into the game, Jake opens up to his father.  
"There's this one attending who really hates my guts. He blames me for everything."  
"Did you talk to your mentor about it?"  
"They gave me a first year resident as a mentor. What good would it do?"  
"So, you have an attending that picks on you and a mentor that sucks. Welcome to real life, son!"  
Jake smiles and replies "I know, that's why I didn't mention it to you and Mom."

"This attending, what type of crap is he blaming you for?"  
"At first, it was just picky stuff—not shaving, not having a clip on my tie and stuff. Then, he started blaming me for patient care stuff. Last week, I overheard him telling one of the department heads that he missed the diagnosis because I didn't get a complete history of the patient. It wasn't even my freaking patient! He was the one who spoke to the patient."  
"What's the plan?"  
Jake shrugs his shoulder and replies "ride it out?"  
"How many more weeks?"  
"One more week of ER hell then I'm off to my surgery rotation. Do you know Dr. Getz, Dad?"  
House smiles and nods at his son.  
Jake reveals "he's like you in BWH. You know? Brilliant but a little cranky. Anyway, he dislikes med students and despises idiots even worst."

_**Begin Flashback**_

_Dr. Getz is a world renowned Surgeon who marches to the beat of his own drum. In the halls of the BWH, he's like a rock star. And like any rock star, he attracts onlookers and hanger-on's. As head of surgery, he will from time to time visit patients before or after their surgery. But every month, he is force to do his rounds with a group of med students and residents following him around. _

_After visiting a patient, Dr. Getz begins listing the patient's symptoms and asks "any diagnosis?"  
No one in the group replies since they are too scared to get yell at, so Dr. Getz starts calling out "you with a rim glasses on, what your diagnosis?"  
Med student #1 answers "sarcoidosis?"  
"Are you asking me or answering my question?"  
Med student #1 stutters and shrugs his shoulder.  
"Is that an I don't know shrug or I'm an idiot or I'm gonna guess shrug?"  
After a few second of silence, Dr. Getz looks at the group of nervous student and asks "is this the best that Harvard medical school can offer?"  
He points at Jake "you, tall guy at the back with the ugly orange tie."  
Jake asks "me?"  
Dr. Getz rolls his eyes and asks "god helps us all if there's another med student that's wearing that same hideous tie."  
Jake blushes but quickly recovers and answers "sir, I think the patient has Lupus."  
Dr. Getz mockingly asks "why would you 'think' that?"  
"Aside from the classic symptoms of muscle pain, fever, and chest pain that you mentioned, I noticed the butterfly rash on his cheek as well as his purple fingers."  
Dr. Gentz tauntingly asks "are you sure? Or are you just spewing some of those big words that they teach you at Harvard?"  
"No sir. I need to run a few lab tests to verify my theory."  
"And what expensive test will you be running to verify your theory?"  
"CBC, ESR, ANA, SSA, SSB,_ _skin biopsy and kidney biopsy."  
Dr. Getz smirks and replies "the good news is…you'll probably just save the man's life. The bad news is…he'll probably have to spend the rest of his life paying for the medical bill that the hospital will be charging him." _

_After the round, Dr. Getz turns around and says "the show is over and everyone is dismissed! If you get lucky enough, you will never have to see me again. Oh, except for the guy with the ugly tie. I want a word with you."  
Jake hangs around as Dr. Getz barks order to the resident to page Dr. Schumer, the attending.  
Dr. Getz asks Jake "what's your name son?"  
"Jake, Jake House."  
Dr. Getz smiles and asks "fourth year and you selected a rotation in the ER?"  
Jake strummers and replies "not exactly, they had a scheduling mix-up."  
Dr. Getz nods and asks "when will your ER rotation end?"  
"In three weeks."  
"Then what's next?"  
"Hopefully, a rotation in surgery."  
"If your surgical skills are as sharp as your diagnostic skills, it's not a problem."  
Jake's face lights up in a smile and exclaims "thank you sir."  
"Good. I want you to personally report to me in three weeks."  
"It will be my honor, sir."  
Dr. Getz raises his brow and adds "and be sure to get rid of that hideous tie."  
Jake smirks and asks "what tie? It'll be in the trash after my shift."  
__**End Flashback**_

House asks "I thought Getz disliked med students?"  
"He does and according to Sandy he doesn't mentor med students. So, I'm not sure what I'll be doing for him. One thing is for sure, he'll be better than the idiotic Schumer that I have to deal with everyday."  
"Schumer? Was that the same attending that Getz called after your rounds?  
"Yeah, why?"  
"Was the lupus guy his patient?"  
Jake hits his forehead with his palm and exclaims "holy shit! You think Schumer misdiagnose that patient too?"  
"And Getz probably chewed him out and mentioned that a med student diagnose it correctly standing three feet away from the patient."  
"That would explain why Schumer hates my guts."  
House reaches over and gently lifts his son's face. "Listen to me, there will be lots of schmucks like him in every hospital and you will never please them. What matters most is what's in here" as House points to Jake's heart. "Always, always do what you think is right for your patient and everything will fall into places."

After a few minutes, House asks "by the way, who's Sandy?" thinking that his son has found another girlfriend.  
"She's the head nurse administrator at BWH and an old friend of Mom."  
"Really?"  
"Yeah, she's awesome. I'm sure gonna miss her when she leaves."  
"Where's she going?"  
"She's retiring next week."  
"How did your Mom know her?"  
"She was a nurse back when Mom was a resident at Mass General. She apparently even babysat me. Ain't that something? What a small world."  
House grins and replies "small world indeed."

*******

While Emma and Harry are busy putting the twins to bed, Rachel and Wilson start chatting in the family room.  
Wilson asks "House mentioned that you're a photographer."  
"Yes, I'm a photojournalist for the National Geographic."  
"National Geographic? Wow! You must be very good."  
"I do okay."  
"So, what's your specialty? I'm not even sure if there's such a thing in photography."  
Rachel smile and nods "actually, there is. Mine happens to be nature and animals. And you?"  
"I'm an oncologist. Just boring cancer stuff so let's talk about your job instead."  
Rachel laughs and replies "well, I have the best job in the world. I get to visit exotic places, meet interesting people and the best part is…it's at my company's expense."

Rachel and Wilson hit it off so good that they completely lose track of time.  
They don't even notice House walking in nearby until a blanket hits Wilson on the face.  
Wilson yells "House!"  
He innocently asks "what? I'm just giving you your blanket. Lise already made the sofa bed down in the basement for you."  
Wilson simply rolls his eyes and replies "Thank Lisa for me."  
House nods and warns Rachel "Wilson here is a serial marrier. No matter how much he tries to sweet talk you into marrying him, say just no."  
Wilson exclaims "House! We just met."  
"I know. Since she's my sister-in-law and you're my best friend, I figured I would get that out of the way. Good night!"_**  
TBC**_

***

As always, I do appreciate all types of feedback, it's the only way I know if you love, hate or even reading this story ;-)


	30. Chapter 30

_**Author's Notes:**__ I just want to give an enormous thank you to my fabulous beta,__** Ceciilee **__f__or finding time in her busy schedule to edit this fic. Also, a big cyber hug to all my loyal readers. Thank you so much for the 200+ feedbacks, please keep them coming.  
**  
Happy Season 6 Premier Day!!!**_

_*******_

_**Monday night  
**_Jake drives back to Boston early that morning and Rachel leaves shortly after as well. Meanwhile Emma and Harry catch the afternoon flight back to London. Shortly after dinner, the twins turn the tables on their parents and decide to entertain them for the evening. Ethan plays the piano and Charlie does his famous chicken dance to the delight of his baby sister.

By nine o'clock, all the kids are tucked-in and House is patiently waiting for his wife to join him in bed.  
Lisa asks "did you get a chance to talk to Jake?"  
"Uh-huh"  
"And?"  
"You know, the usual stuff."  
"Is he having girl problem?"  
"I don't think so."  
"Something is bothering him Greg and I wish he'll tell me."  
"Lise, he's going through what we went through when we began our clinical rotation."  
"I know but…we were at least 4-5 years older than he is now. Did he mention what's making him unhappy? "  
House sighs and finally tells his wife "Jake said his attending is an idiot who picks on him and his mentor is a bigger idiot."  
"Oh my!"  
"Did you know that he's doing his rotation at Bingham's?" House curiously asks his wife.  
"Yes, he had mentioned it when he told me about meeting Sandy."  
"Why didn't you mentioned that to me?"  
"Who Sandy?"  
"No, that he's doing his clinical rotation at Bingham's."  
"I'm sorry; I just assumed he told you. He's been telling you more stuff than me."  
House kisses his wife and replies "because he doesn't want you to worry about him. You already have your hands full with the twins and the baby."  
"I know. But he's still my baby and I hate seeing him unhappy."

***

After a long and relaxing weekend, Cuddy feels revitalize to tackle her administrative duties. What she isn't ready to hear is the news that her husband's work shenanigans may have cost a patient's life.  
Cuddy enters House's office and sees him watching his soap opera while the rest of his team is chatting in the conference room.  
She clears her throat but House still ignores her so she calls "House!"  
"Yes Cuddeee. What can I do for you, boss?"  
"You've played your games long enough. I'm giving you one week to narrow down your decision. I want three names by Friday."  
House loudly replies "what? You want me to fire half of them by the end of the week."  
Cuddy simply rolls his eyes and retorts "if not, I'll take their salary out of your paycheck."  
House shrugs his shoulder "I don't care. I'll just get money from Wilson."  
Cuddy sighs and counters her threat with "I'll move your parking space to Lot 'E'."  
House pouts and asks "you'll do that to an old cripple like me?"  
"Three names by Friday or lot E parking. The decision is yours."

After Cuddy leaves, the rest of fellows join House in his office.  
#24 (CTB) inquires what is in everyone's mind "what did Dr. Cuddy want?"  
"What everybody woman wants, my hot bod!"  
#6/9 (Kutner) sniggers at House's remark.  
"You don't think she has the hots for me?"  
#6/9 (Kutner) quickly replies "I didn't say anything."  
#39 (Taub) irately interrupts "who cares what she thinks of you. We all want to know if you're really making the decision by Friday."  
"Have you all been eavesdropping on Mommy and Daddy's conversation? You all should be ashamed of yourself."  
#26 (Scooter) interjects "so, what do you want us to do?"  
"Just do your job and I'll take care of Cuddy."

***

_**Friday afternoon  
**_House is knee deep doing Differential Diagnosis (DDx) with his team when a catchy ringtone starts playing.  
#6/9 (Kutner) smiles and declares "cool, you got Hanson's 'MMMBop' ringtone."  
House immediately walks back to his office to answer the phone.  
"Yeah?"  
"Daddy?"  
"What's wrong?"  
"How do you know that something is wrong?"  
House walks over to the balcony to ensure that his team doesn't eavesdrop "you never call me Daddy."  
"Oh…Dad?"  
"Come on and spit it out, Jake."  
"I got suspended."  
House calmly asks "how long?"  
"A month. I can't do my rotation with Dr. Getz."  
"Forget Getz. Why did you get suspended?"  
"I disobeyed Schumer's orders."  
"Why?"  
"Because, I thought it was the right thing to do."  
A smirk appears on House's face as he hears his son's response.  
"And Dad?"  
"Yeah?"  
"Please don't tell Mom. I want to tell her myself."  
"Okay. So, what's the plan?"  
"I don't know Dad. I don't know."  
"Jake?"  
"Yeah Dad?"  
"Take the next flight home tonight and we'll discuss this later."

***

After hearing of Jake's suspension, Sandy immediately asks an administrative assistant to make three copies of all files pertaining to Raul Ramirez. The patient, 12-year old Raul was diagnosed as possible jaundice by Dr. Shumer. He noted 'yellow skin' as the symptom. He tells the mother to give the boy lots of water and return if she sees more problems. Jake House appended a note to the patient's file that the mother reported the patient was pale (_pálido)_, suffered from dizziness (_mareado)_, but had no fever (_no tenía fiebre)_. Jake also noted that the patient has family history of diabetes.  
Sandy smile at reading Jake's note and mutters "you're definitely Lisa Cuddy's son."  
She sends one copy back to the record's department, locked up one copy and places the third one on an envelope.

Few minutes later, Jake walks over to Sandy's office to hand-in his badge. Instead, he's told to "fill-up this form and I'll put in the paperwork today."  
He looks at the form and argues "but, I don't want to appeal my suspension."  
"You did the right thing adding those notes. Don't let bullies like Schumer get away with it?"  
"How did you know?"  
"Nurse Linda (_one of the Spanish-speaking nurses_) heard you spoke to the mother and confirms that your notes were more accurate than Schumer's. The patient came back complaining of the same dizziness yesterday, the attending read your note and immediately tested him for diabetes. When Schumer found out about your note from the other attending, he was furious. After he confronted you and suspended this afternoon, my nurse made sure they personally hand delivered the patient's file to me for safe keeping."  
"I appreciate you looking after me, but it's useless, Sandy. Even if the board overturns my suspension, it's not like I can make up for the weeks that I will be missing."  
"A word of advice: you don't want stupid things like this to be on your permanent record. You have a bright future ahead of you."  
Jake nods in agreement and smiles "you're right."  
"Damn straight, I'm right"  
After noticing the sadness in Jake's face, Sandy says "you're a good doctor, Jacob. You are smart, you are kind to everyone, but most of all you care about your patients. Don't let the Schumers of the world bring you down."

After completing the form, Jake gives Sandy a goodbye hug.  
The woman smiles and hands Jake the envelope. She adds "have one of your Momma's best doctor look at that file before your appeals hearing."

***

_**Friday night  
**_The twins are restlessly pacing near the front door waiting for their father. It's very unusual for House not to be home before dinner.  
Ethan asks "Mommy, where's Daddy?"  
"I don't know honey. He's probably busy working on a case. Why don't you call him at work" Cuddy replies as she continues preparing dinner.  
The twins head straight to the family room and start arguing on who'll do the dialing.  
Cuddy yells "one of you can dial and the other can speak to Daddy."  
Ethan presses #2 on speed dial, then Charlie takes the receiver.

House is huddle up with his team going over the test results when his office phone rings. After the fourth ring, #6/9 (Kutner) asks "do you want me to take that call for you?"  
House is too absorb with the reports to answer so Kutner walks over to answer the phone.  
"This is Dr. House's office, how may I help you?"  
Charlie asks "is my Daddy there?"  
Kutner smiles and asks "who's your Daddy?"  
"No, who's your Daddy?"  
"Look kid. I'm too busy to play with you. Either tell me whom you want to speak to or go harass somebody else"  
"We want to talk to our Daddy."  
Then Kutner realizes that it must be #18 Big Love's kids so he replies "hold on, let me get him for you."  
By the time #18 Big Love picks up the phone, Charlie has already hang-up the phone.

A few seconds after, Abba's SOS ringtone starts playing. House leaves the room to answer his call.  
"Yeah?"  
"Hi Daddy! This is Ethan. When are you coming home?"  
House checks on his watch and replies "soon."  
Then he hears the twins' arguing about whose turn it is to hold the receiver "boys, Daddy is very busy. Can one of you give the phone to Mommy?"  
"Greg?"  
"Lise, I'll be home at around 8:30."  
"Okay, do you want me set aside dinner or are you eating there?"  
"Can you set aside dinner for two?"  
"Oh, will Wilson be late too?"  
"No, I'm picking up Spawn #1 in the airport tonight."  
"What happened? Is he okay?"  
"He's fine. Just taking a few weeks off from med school."  
"Greg, you're not telling me something."  
"Lise, Jake wants to tell you himself."  
"I don't like the sound of this. Oh god, did he get a girl pregnant? I'm too young to be a grandmother."  
"Lise, I gotta go. I need to finish up before I leave for the airport."  
_**TBC**_

***

As always, I do appreciate all types of feedback, it's the only way I know if you love, hate or even reading this story ;-)


	31. Chapter 31

_**Author's Notes:**__ I just want to give a big thank you to my wonderful beta,__** Ceciilee **__f__or finding time in her busy schedule to beta this fic. _

_*******_

_**Monday Morning  
**_Over the weekend, House is force to interrupt his quality time with his family when his team reports that they've cured their patient from polio with Vitamin C.  
"Either you all missed the part in the patient's file where it says she tested negative for polio or someone poisoned her with thallium to give her the same symptoms as polio."  
#37 (Grumpy) admits to poisoning the patient with thallium to induce symptoms of polio. He justifies his action by claiming that the good press would have gotten funding for clinical trial into Vitamin C cures polio research. House orders #37 (Grumpy) to leave and with that the applicant pool is now down to six. Or is it seven?

_**Flashback Begins  
**__House asks his son "so, what's the plan?"  
"Just so I can continue earning credit hours, I'll do my clerkship at Princeton."  
"With whom?"  
"Since I missed my opportunity with Dr. Getz, I'll talk to Dr. Carson up in surgery Monday morning."  
"How about working with your old man again?"  
Jake hesitantly replies "I don't know Dad. Mom said you're already running some crazy survivor game with your applicants."  
"That's just your Mom's crazy talk."  
"You're not running a survivor-like game to dwindle down your applicant pool?"  
"No, it's more of like "The Bachelor" kind of game."  
Jake rolls his eyes and replies "you watch way too much TV, Dad."  
"So, you don't think you can make the cut in my game huh?"  
"What? Of course I can. It's just there will be too much conflict."  
"Yeah? Worst than the fact that your Mom-is-my-boss kindda conflict?"  
"Good point. I'll join your crazy game under two conditions 1) you don't tell your team that I'm your son and 2) when we're in the hospital, no special treatment."  
House rolls his eyes and asks "why?"  
"You know why. They won't trust or respect me."  
"They won't trust you because as far as they're concern you're competition. As for respect, you didn't go through the two month elimination process that they went through. Do you think they will respect you?"  
"I'll worry about that later. Do we have a deal?"  
House smirk and nods "you're on!"  
__**Flashback Ends  
**_  
Jake joins the rest of the team waiting for House in the conference room.  
#18 (Big Love) asks "did House offered you a job?"  
Jake retorts "what do you mean?"  
#6/9 (Kutner) asks "are you even old enough to be a doctor?"  
House walks in and answers "his age is not relevant. If it is, then you'll have to question grandpa over there too" as House points at #26 (Scooter a.k.a. Ridiculously Old Fraud).  
House starts throwing folders and begins "a healthy young man starts suffering from respiratory distress. Any possible diagnosis?"  
#18 (Big Love): "Could be asthma."  
House shakes his head and replies "no hyperinflation on the X-ray."  
#6/9 (Kutner): "Food allergy. Could have eaten shellfish or peanuts."  
House shakes his head again and answers "no hives. No erythema on the skin."  
#13: "Pulmonary embolism."  
House replies "Embolisms don't magically dissolve."

At this time Cuddy walks in with Foreman.  
House stops and asks Foreman "what are you doing here?"  
Foreman ignores House's question and replies "Laryngospasm. Frosty fall air hits his vocal chords, they spasm shut... Choke him out."  
House glares at Foreman and answers "good idea. You've been tremendously helpful, you can leave."  
Cuddy declares "I just hired him."  
House retorts "Well I fired him. To infinity."  
Foreman asks Cuddy "you didn't tell him I was coming back?"  
House interrupts "she did, I said no."  
"When your extended job interview/reality TV show killed a patient, you lost your veto power. Everybody, this is Dr. Foreman, he will..."  
#24 (CTB) interrupts "does this mean there's one less slot for us?"  
Cuddy calmly replies "it's still Dr. House's department. He decides who stays, who goes..."  
House raises his brows and replies "Foreman goes!"  
Cuddy adds "but Dr. Foreman will be my eyes and ears. You do nothing without his knowledge."  
"Oh, uh, just in case I need them, where exactly will Dr. Foreman be keeping my balls?  
Foreman rolls his eyes while Cuddy simply smiles.  
As she walk pass House, she whispers, "I'm keeping your balls for your protection. If you're a good boy, maybe I'll let you play with them."  
House raises his brows and smirks.

Cuddy is about to leave when she catches a glimpse of her son "what are you doing here?" she asks.  
Jake replies "nice to meet you again Dr. Cuddy."  
Cuddy looks at her son as if he just grew a second head, but quickly recovers and reprimands him "wear your lab coat" before she leaves  
House reaches over to his lab coat and throws it at Jake.  
#6/9 (Kutner): "How come he gets to wear your lab coat?"  
House replies "because his Mommy has nice pair of funbags and if I'm nice to Doogie here maybe I can have some of them melons."  
Noticing that Jake is now turning red from embarrassment, Foreman immediately changes the topic and suggests "if we give the patient a methacholine challenge, maybe it'll sets off laryngospasm."

As the team tries to test Foreman's theory, House walks over to Wilson's office.  
Wilson nods in acknowledgement, while House simply lays on the sofa.  
"What's up?"  
"Lise just rehired Foreman to babysit me."  
"Really? Does that mean you only need to make two selections?"  
"Wilson, pay attention! She not only rehired him, he's gonna be her snitch in my department."  
"Just think of Foreman as your assistant. Someone who'll help you run the circus you called your department."  
"Hey! That's my department you're talking about."  
Wilson rolls his eyes and changes the topic "I just bump into Jake this morning. What's going to happen to him?"  
"He'll work for me until his appeal hearing. It's an open and shut case."  
"How can you be so confident?"  
"Are you kidding me? Jake did the right thing and he saved the boy's life by adding the correct patient history on the file."  
"I know he did. But sometimes, papers will accidentally be misplaced. Stories will change as hospital staff closes rank to protect one of their own."  
House smirks and replies "I have a feeling that Lise is already on top of that one."  
Wilson is about to respond when House has the epiphany look on his face.  
House quickly gets up and leaves Wilson's office without a word.

The team comes back to inform House that Foreman's theory was correct and the patient is responding well to treatment.  
House nods and informs everyone that "we can all applaud the doctor who's willing to break all the rules. But the real hero is the unsung doctor, toiling in anonymity, because he broke the rules without getting caught. I need to know you have the skills necessary to be that type of doctor. I need you to bring me the thong of Lisa Cuddy.  
Jake rolls his eyes while everyone simply laughs.  
House adds "I'm not kidding. Thong. Cuddy. Go."  
House immediately looks at his son to see his reaction. All Jake can do is shakes his head.

In the hallway, everyone is shock to hear that Foreman supports House when he tells them, "It's how I got hired."  
#13 (Thirteen) asks #24 (CTB): "You're actually considering this?"  
#24 (CTB): "If you want to stand on principle, I would really respect you for that."  
#18 (Big Love): "It's childish, unprofessional, and inappropriate. The job is not worth it."  
#39 (Taub): "We should all beg off. Tell him we failed. No winners, no losers."  
#24 (CTB): "Fine."  
#18 (Big Love) asks #24 (CTB): "You're going to do it, aren't you?"  
#24 (CTB): "Of course I'm going to do it."  
CTB looks at Jake at asks "are you in?"  
Jake replies "thanks, but no thanks."

Kutner and Scooter decide that they'll break into Dr. Cuddy's house and raid her wardrobe. As Scooter waits in the car, Kutner tries to pick the front door. And unbeknownst to Kutner, the twins are curiously looking through the side glass panel.  
Ethan yells "what are you doing?"  
Kutner is so surprise, he almost pees in his pants but quickly recovers after seeing the two toddlers.  
"Nothing, I work for your Mom."  
Charlie screams "Lina, there's a bad guy in the front door. Call the police!"  
Hearing Charlie screams, Kutner quickly runs back to the car.  
Lina, who is in the kitchen immediately runs to the front door. She doesn't see Kutner but sees the car speeding away. She quickly calls Cuddy and informs her of what just happened.

By the time Kutner and Scooter join the others, Taub is already holding up a black panty.  
#18 (Big Love): "No way, how did you get them?"  
#39 (Taub): "Only one way" as he throws the panty to #18 (Big Love).  
House catches it with his cane and declares "this is not Cuddy's panties."  
#39 (Taub): "You don't think that I..."  
House replies "No. Also, she's wearing a red bra today."  
After everyone looks at House, he adds "like I'm the only one who notices. Means the downstairs will match.  
House asks Amber "hike up your skirt." He smirks at noticing how his son continues to shrink into his seat with embarrassment.  
#24 (CTB): nervously laughs and replies "wow that's rude even for you."  
House asks again "hike it down then. You're wearing a black bra. Let's see the underwear."  
#24 (CTB): No!  
House looks at both CTB and Taub "you two cut a deal."  
CTB grabs her panties off the table and replies "if you're not cheating, you're not trying hard enough"  
Kutner asks CTB "so you're not wearing any underwear?"  
Scooter leans over to Jake and asks "did House say that we have to get the panties off Dr. Cuddy?"  
Jake is now so beet red that Thirteen worriedly asks "are you okay?"  
House smirks and replies "he just needs some fresh air and …" but is interrupted by Rod Stewart's 'Hot Legs' ringtone playing. House picks up his cell phone and is quickly inform by Cuddy that a man pretending to work for her tried to break into their home.  
House walks over to his office and asks "is everyone okay?"  
"Yeah, Lina is a little bit shaken but the boys are fine."  
"Did the boys see the guy's face?"  
"I think so, why?"  
"Nothing, just wondering."  
"I'm on my way to pick the boys up. But I need you or Jake to take them home later, okay?"  
"Okay"

As House enters back to the conference room, he asks "Idiots!!! Who among you morons tried to break into Cuddy's house?"  
The fellows look at each other to see who'll fess up.  
Kutner asks "she called just now to tell you that someone broke into her house?"  
"No, that was my hooker telling me that she's busy tonight. The point is…the challenge is to get the thong that Cuddy is currently wearing not raid her drawer of unmentionables. Due to your stupidity—I'm raising the stakes, this will be a double elimination round. Look around you because two of you will not be back by tomorrow."  
He adds "Oh, and don't try to cheat again, I'll be able to tell if you go out and buy a red thong!!!"  
As if on cue, everyone's pager start to go off as their patient's condition quickly deteriorates.  
_**TBC**_

***

As always, I do appreciate all types of feedback, it's the only way I know if you love, hate or even reading this story ;-)


	32. Chapter 32

_**Author's Notes:**__ A big thank you to my wonderful beta,__** Ceciilee **__f__or finding time in her busy schedule to beta this fic. _

_*******_

House orders everyone to go check on the patient except Jake.  
Jake raises his brow to ask his father why, but waits until all the others leave the room.  
"Mom's taking the kiddies to the daycare and she needs one of us to bring them home later."  
"Okay. So, you really think one of the guys did it?"  
House nods "the guy told the twins that he works for your Mom. But when the twins started screaming, the guy ran away."  
Jake asks "why were the twins at home in the first place?"  
"Your Mom has a late meeting today and since we have a case, I figured it would be best if Lina watched over them at home."  
Jake nods and hesitantly asks "Dad?"  
"Yeah?"  
"Could you quit it with all the sexual references about Mom?"  
House smirks and asks "Do they bother you?"  
"Of course! She's my Mom."  
"Good! That means I'm treating you like everyone else. Didn't you specifically ask that I not give you any special treatment?"  
"I know but…"  
"No ifs ands or buts—that's just me being my usual self. You're either playing or not playing."  
Jake thinks for a second and replies "the agreement was… you don't tell your team that I'm your son, but I'm still Mom's son."  
"So, Mommy gives you the look and you fold?"  
"Are you kidding me? Nobody messes with Dr. Lisa Cuddy!"  
"You're such a wuss!"  
Jake replies "No Dad, I just know what's good for me."  
Scooter, who left his stethoscope in the room comes back just in time to hear Jake's last sentence.  
Jake simply shrugs his shoulder at the realization that Scooter heard him and leaves the room.  
Scooter asks House "so, Doogie's your kid huh?"  
House smirks and replies "so, you never went to medical school huh? Oh, I'm sorry. I thought we were playing state the obvious."  
"Thirty years I worked in the Columbia med school admissions office. Audited all the classes. Most of them more than once. I just never got a diploma."  
"You had to know I'd find out sooner or later."  
"I know you break rules. I thought maybe you'd break one for me."  
"I can't hire you as a doctor. But you can still tell me what you think. You can also fetch me coffee, pick up my dry-cleaning, until I can decide whether or not to keep you."  
"So I'm playing this whole game to be like... Your secretary?"  
"Assistant sounds marginally less demeaning."  
"It's not my dream job."  
"Actually it is. It's just not your dream title."

***

The fellows splits into two groups: Scooter,Thirteen, and Big Love are up in the lab waiting for their test results. While CTB, Taub, and Kutner are in the patient's room. CTB speculates "I bet he's firing two to make room for Foreman and Doogie."  
Kutner asks "did anyone hear House mentioned that someone in the group is not a real doctor?"  
Taub replies "I heard it."  
Kutner adds "I think it is Doogie. He's not old enough to be a doctor." He turns to Taub and asks "did he or did you do the bronchoscopy test earlier?"  
Taub purses his lips to think and replies "Sorry, Doogie did it. The kid has a steady hand and handled the flexible bronchoscope as competently as any doctor I've seen."  
CTB adds "I'm with Kutner, he's too young to be a doctor. Unless, of course if he's some kind of genius."  
As both Kutner and CTB look at Taub for an answer, he simply shrugs his shoulder and adds "I work with the kid for less than an hour, which doesn't make me an expert but he knows his stuff."  
CTB asks "Who in your opinion should be cut?"  
Taub replies "Cole (Big Love) hasn't made a single breakthrough diagnosis."  
Kutner disagrees "same can be said about Henry (Scooter). Did you notice that he never performs any tests?"  
Taub asks "are you kidding me? Henry is lock for one of the spots. House agrees with everything he says."  
CTB pipes-in "Thirteen killed a guy in a wheelchair. And his dog. Need I say more?"

***

After the team finally diagnoses the patient, they return to the conference room to await their fate.  
House walks in carrying a pillow with the red thong laid on top of it. He walks over to Big Love and asks him to "use your power wisely."  
But before Big Love can nominate anyone, Jake's cell phone rings. Jake picks it up and learns that it's the daycare center. He signals to his Dad that he's heading out.  
House nods at his son and tells Big Love to continue.  
Kutner asks "so, he gets to keep his job?"  
"Yes, he gets to keep his job. As I was saying, Big Love. Go."  
Kutner persists "why does Doogie get to keep his job?"  
"Because his Mommy's is a MILF and I wanna get some tonight."  
"You're sleeping with his Mom?"  
Taub exclaims "he's your son! That explains how you comfortably let him wear your lab coat and even though he just joined us, he's familiar with where everything is in your office."  
House ignores Taub and replies "forget about Doogie. He's not competing for your jobs. He wouldn't need to if he wanted a job. Big Love continue."

Cole stutters and says "I nominate... Amber."  
House says "Cut-throat bitch, rise. You're surprised? You're everyone's pick." He turns to Big Love and asks "Next victim?"  
"I nominate... Kutner."  
Kutner looks shocked but stands up.  
House asks "now everyone's surprised. Why Kutner?"  
Big Love replies "you said I wouldn't have to justify my picks."  
"No... I said you could use whatever criteria you wanted, that doesn't mean I don't want to know. He was right about the diagnosis and he's your love nugget. You've got no reason to pick him."  
Half a second later, House quickly smirks at the realization "but somebody else does. Kutner's a liability. He electrocuted himself, lit a patient on fire, it's only a matter of time before he burns the hospital down. You made a deal with Cuddy!! That's how you got her underwear. She sold it to you for the right to put her choices on the block."  
"You said to get her underwear, I got it."  
"Your scheme was brilliant... and you're fired."  
"You're all about breaking the rules."  
"Her rules, not mine. The whole point of this was to subvert Cuddy. You became her partner, gave her power she didn't already have. Thanks for playing."  
House walks over to CTB as if to say something but instead heads over to Scooter. He says "Sorry, Henry."  
Scooter smiles sportingly but Taub is very surprised.  
Taub asks "but you agreed with everything he says. You finish each other's sentences."  
Scooter replies "that's why I gotta go. He doesn't need someone to tell him what he's already thinking."  
House smirks and adds "funny, I was just about to say that."  
As Thirteen, CTB, and Taub say goodbye to Scooter and Cole, Kutner remains seated, shocked at what has just transpired. He is torn between anger and sadness at the realization that his buddy Cole just betrayed him for an underwear.

***

It's now almost seven o' clock at night and Cuddy is just returning from her board meeting. She enters her office and sees her husband playing Nintendo on her couch.  
"Why are you still here?"  
"Spawn one took your car home, I figured you'll need a ride home."  
"Oh okay. That was nice of you."  
"Sure. But of course, it's nothing compared to your nice gesture of giving away your underwear to Big Love."  
"Really?"  
House walks over to Cuddy and dangles the red thong that Big Love supplied. "Looks familiar?"  
Cuddy smiles and asks "should it?"  
House is mockingly offended and reminds her "this is the thong I gave you for valentines. I bought it online with the heart-shaped lace on the sides."  
"I'm very impress by your knowledge of my underwear collection, but what does that have to do with me?"  
"Well, aside from the fact I don't appreciate my wife donating my gifts to the black Mormon. I just want to let you know that your little plan didn't work. I fired Big Love."  
"Oh, did you now?"  
"Yeah, you gave up your underwear for nothing!"  
"You mean, I gave up my spare underwear for nothing?"  
House wags his brows and asks "I'll need to verify that fact for myself."  
"Really? And how do you plan to do that Dr. House?"  
"I think a strip search is in order" as he walks closer to Cuddy and cup a feel at her ass.  
"And why would I consent to such a humiliating ordeal Dr. House?"  
House gives his wife a passionate kiss while gently lifting her skirt. After verifying that she's wearing a thong, he smirks and replies "because you've been a very naughty girl scheming with my staff. Trying to let your greedy hands into my cookie jar."  
"I could say the same thing about you. Ordering your staff to break into our home just so you can test their burglary skills. Not to mention, ordering them to get you my underwear—that's extreme even for you."  
"Did Jake tell you that? I knew that Mamma's boy would fold like a lawn chair."  
Cuddy laughs and replies "wrong son. The twins spotted Kutner in the lobby and recognized him as the bad guy who tried to break into our home this afternoon."  
_**TBC**_

***

As always, I do appreciate all types of feedback, it's the only way I know if you love, hate or even reading this story ;-)


	33. Chapter 33

_**Author's Notes:**__ First of all, please allow me to apologize for the delayed update. __Secondly, I also want to express my gratitude to my wonderful and long time beta,__** Ceciilee **__f__or squeezing me in to her busy schedule. Finally, big cyber-hug to Jess for agreeing to pinch hit as my back-up beta ;-)_

_*******_

**_The following day_**_**  
**_Amber, Kutner, Taub, and Thirteen are waiting for House in his office.  
Kutner asks Taub, "So, you really think Doogie is House's son?"  
Taub: "House didn't deny it. And he confirmed that if Doogie wanted a job, he didn't need to compete for it."  
Thirteen: "I think it's kinda sweet that our seemingly heartless boss actually has a son."  
Amber: "I heard that Doogie is Cuddy's son."  
Taub: "Doogie could be House and Cuddy's love child. I heard that they've known each other since med school."  
Kutner: "Seriously?"  
Thirteen: "Maybe, Dr. Cuddy is the one that got away for House."  
Taub: "That would explain why House talks about her all the time."  
Amber: "You mean that's why House obsessively talks about different parts of her anatomy?"  
Thirteen: "Do you blame him? I think she's hot."  
Taub, Kutner, and Amber simultaneously look at Thirteen in astonishment.  
Thirteen: "What? Just because I'm a girl, it doesn't mean I'm blind."

Foreman walks-in and informs everybody "House will be in a little late today. Cuddy left a message that she wants us to help out in the clinic."  
Kutner: "How about Doogie?"  
Foreman: "He has family stuff that he has to attend to. He'll be in late too."  
Amber: "Is he House and Cuddy's love child?"  
Foreman laughs and replies, "You'll have to ask him."

***

While Cuddy is busy helping the twins change into their outfits, Jake looks for seats in the auditorium. After finding good seats near the front and center of the auditorium, he waves to his Dad.  
House grudgingly walks over to his son and asks "couldn't you find seats near the exit door? At least I could slip out without getting noticed."  
"Mom wants to be near the stage so we can get better video of the twins."  
"They're three, what can they possibly do that needs to be recorded?"  
Jake smiles and asks his Dad "have you seen the video of my first piano recital Dad?"  
House embarrassedly shakes his head.  
"After I finished my recital, the teacher's daughter gave me a bouquet and tried to kiss me. This was during my 'girls are evil' stage so I ran away from the girl. She didn't like that so she ran after me. We ran around the stage for at least two minute before the teachers caught us and took us off stage.  
House smiles at his son's story but, more importantly, feels guilty for complaining about attending the twins' school show when he practically missed all of Jake's childhood.

About fifteen minutes into the show, House asks "is it done yet?"  
Cuddy rolls her eyes and tells her husband "if you can sit-in a little more, I'm sure our boys are gonna knock your socks off."  
"I doubt that. Unless, of course they're bringing in strippers on stage."  
House's statement is quickly met by a dirty look from a mother on the front row and an elbow from his wife beside him.  
House'S whining is interrupted when the lights go down and the speaker starts blaring 'Bad to the Bone'.  
Cuddy excitedly tells Jake "this is the boys' number, make sure you record it."  
On cue, five little boys enter from the rear of auditorium dress in blue jeans, white sleeveless t-shirts, and dark sun glasses. The audience begins hooting and hollering at the boy's badass entrance. And by the time the boys start dancing to YMCA perfectly in sync with the lyrics (complete with pelvic thrusts in between), the audience is all on their feet clapping.  
House proudly states "that's how you close the show!"  
Cuddy informs House and Jakes "The pre-k boys were supposed to be performing at the beginning of the show, but after the principal saw them during dress rehearsal. He asked that they close the show."  
Jake smiles and says "rightfully so. They were really good."

After the show, House and boys ate at a local diner while Cuddy quickly heads back to work.  
On their way to the hospital, Ethan asks "Daddy, can we play with you and Jake today?"  
Charlie adds "yeah, we can all be your ducklings!"  
Ethan worriedly suggests "oh, we need go home and get our white coats."  
House smirks and replies "you don't need a lab coat if you work for Daddy."  
Ethan asks "but Mommy is the boss and she said doctors have to wear white coats."  
Jake interrupts "Dad, do you think it's a good idea to have them around your new fellows?"  
"Why not? The boys can handle them easily."  
"I don't know Dad. I'm not sure I want the boys being interrogated by a bunch of cutthroat competitors. And, I don't think mom would like it either."  
Ethan curiously asks "why are we being gated by cockroach?"  
Both House and Jake look at each other and start laughing.  
House informs the twins "Jake is right. I forgot about the cockroach problem in my office. You'll have to wait until Daddy takes care of it okay?"  
Ethan asks his father "does Mommy know about the cockroach? She'll have somebody fix it for you Daddy."  
Charlie offers "yeah, let Mommy call the Orkin man."

***

After dropping off the twins at the daycare, Jake heads to the clinic to join the others while House goes straight to the doctor's lounge to watch his afternoon soaps.  
Jake chats with Nurse Brenda for a while before he's joined by Taub.  
Taub grabs a new patient folder and offers "you wanna take this?"  
Jake replies "unfortunately, I'm not allowed to see a patient without supervision yet. However, I'll be happy to assist you."  
"What do you mean? I thought Henry was the one who's not a real doctor."  
"I have a doctorate in Computer Engineering but I'm still working on my medical degree."  
"Wow! A PhD in computer engineering. How far along are you with med school?"  
"I'm in my fourth year."  
"You go to Princeton?"  
Jake shakes his head and replies "No, Harvard. I'm just doing a rotation here for a few weeks."  
"Well, I think you're doing pretty well for a fourth year. Except for the age thing, you could have fooled me."  
"Thanks, I appreciate that."  
"If you don't mind me asking, how old are you?"  
"Nineteen."  
"Geesh! Are you some kind of genius or something?"  
Jake shrugs his shoulder and smile. But before he can say anything, Kutner waves and yells "Taub! Doogie!" from across the clinic.  
Cuddy who just stepped out of her office immediately hears the commotion.  
Kutner is about to inform Taub and Jake that he just got a page from Foreman when Cuddy joins the group.  
She asks "how's everything?"  
Kutner replies "very good Dr. Cuddy. I was just about to tell Taub and Doogie that Foreman just PAGED us."  
Cuddy looks at Kutner and asks "what did you just call him?" while pointing to Jake.  
Kutner hesitantly replies "Doogie?"  
"His name is Jacob!" Cuddy looks at his son and asks "why are you letting them call you Doogie? What's wrong with Jacob?"  
Jake stutters "Nothing's wrong with my name Mom. It's…"  
Cuddy interrupts "good! It's your grandfather's name and he's a very good man. Your Nana will have a heart attack if she finds out…"  
Jake places his arm around his Mom's shoulder to calm her down and says "Mom, it's just a nickname that Dad gave me. You know, as in Doogie Howser M.D.?"  
Cuddy looks at her son blankly so Jake explains "anyway, they didn't know my real name."  
After calming down a bit, Cuddy sends the guys off to work.

Taub: "Did you just admit that your House and Cuddy's son?"  
Jake smiles and answers, "Yeah. Did Foreman mention where we supposed to meet him?"  
Kutner: "Dude, you can't just drop a bomb like that and expect us not to ask questions."  
Jake: "Sure, we're all capable of talking and walking at the same time right? Foreman? Where?"  
Kutner: "In House's office. I mean your Dad's office. That just sounds so weird."  
Jake smiles and replies, "Well, better get used to it then."  
Kutner: "So, you're not really a doctor right?"  
Jake quickly pushes the elevator button and replies, "No, I'm not."  
Kutner: "I knew it! You're way too young to be out of high school."  
Jake is very amused at Kutner's kid-like excitement that he decides to play along.  
Kutner: "So, are you're in a work-study program in the hospital?"  
Jake: "Something like that."  
Kutner: "I guess, you'd wanna be like your Dad when you grow up right?"  
Jake: "I would love to be like my Mom and Dad."  
Kutner: "Don't worry kid. I'll show you the ropes."  
Jake raises his brows and replies, "Well, thanks Kutner."  
Kutner proudly counters,"Not a problem. I always wanted to have a kid brother."  
Taub starts sniggering from behind and adds, "Kutner, he's nineteen and is already in the final year of med school. His Dad is a world renowned Diagnostician and his Mom is the Dean of Medicine, I don't think he needs to be shown the ropes."  
Kutner asks, "You're already in the final year of med school?"  
Jake nods, but after seeing disappointment in Kutner's face, he adds, "You think you can still show me a few things?"  
Kutner's face immediately lights ups.

***

House writes 'Repeated trauma, self-cutting, fever, arthralgia, hyperinflated chest, fatigue, anaemia, blood in the stool and urine' on the white board. He turns to his team and says, "Dizzying array of symptoms. Any of which could be caused by drugs, trauma, being a loser."  
Foreman: "The guy's a walking pharmacy. Could be anything."  
House: "Oh, forgot to mention… Final case. Get it right, you're hired. Runner-up will be decided strictly on some definition of merit."  
Kutner: "Endocarditis."  
Thirteen: "Hemorrhagic lesions in the lungs and gut. Bronchiolitis obliterans."  
Amber: "He smoked his airways into oblivion."  
Taub: "Endocarditis."  
Kutner: "Ah, I already said that."  
Taub: "I thought about it before you mentioned it."  
House: "Quickness counts. Pick another one."  
Thirteen: "Could be bacterial meningitis."  
House: "You already picked one."  
Taub raises his hand and says, "I'll take meningitis."  
House: "Too late. Go run your tests."

As Jake and the fellows stand up and prepare to leave. Foreman stops them and argues, "No, he's sick because he's a drug addict."  
House counters, "No, he has every symptom you'd expect of a drug addict."  
Foreman: "So you think it's all too perfect? Some other disease is trying to throw us off its trail?"  
House: "If he had four out of twenty possible symptoms, he'd be a garden-variety druggie. Twenty out of twenty, there's an underlying disease." House turns to his team and orders, "Run your tests."  
Foreman stands, blocks the team and says, "No! He's weak, in withdrawal, just spewed blood. They're gonna rip off a piece of his lung, ram instruments down his throat, and roto-rooter his intestines."  
House raises his brows and orders, "Doogie, hand me that eyeball model."  
After receiving the eyeball model, House tells his team, "One test at a time. Only the person who has the eyeball can do their test. Cutthroat Bitch, you go first." House adds "Don't even think about cheating because Doogie here will be keeping an eye on your every move."  
Jake asks, "I am?"  
_** TBC**_

***

As always, I do appreciate all types of feedback, it's the only way I know if you love, hate or even reading this story ;-)


	34. Chapter 34

_**Author's Notes:**__ A big thank you to my wonderful beta, Ceciilee for finding times in her busy schedule to beta this fic. _

***

House raises his brows and orders, "Doogie, hand me that eyeball model."  
After receiving the eyeball model, House tells his team, "One test at a time. Only the person who has the eyeball can do their test. Cutthroat Bitch, you go first." House adds "Don't even think about cheating because Doogie here will be keeping an eye on your every move."  
Jake asks, "I am?"  
Foreman: "No, he's not."  
Jake: "I'm not?"  
Foreman: "I'm Jake's official mentor for his clerkship here and he doesn't need to be wasting his time on this drug addict."  
Jake: "You are?"  
House: "Who died and made you king?"  
Foreman: "Dr. Cuddy gave me the paperwork that I have to fill out for Harvard Med School."  
House: "You're filling out the forms; it doesn't mean you're running my department." He turns to his team and says "go!"

Amber's initial plan of performing a bronchoscopy literally went up in smoke after the patient tries to sneak-in a cigarette break while on oxygen. The nice little explosion not only gives the patient smoke inhalation but also makes bronchoscopy useless since it'll set off a laryngospasm.  
Thirteen: "Who gets the eyeball next?"  
Amber: "I haven't run my test yet. It still might be a lung issue."  
Thirteen: "You can't run your test. The patient had massive smoke inhalation."  
Amber: "I'll do an open-lung biopsy instead."  
Thirteen: "You want an invasive surgery because you screwed up?"  
House slowly moves beside his son, in anticipation of a catfight.  
Amber: "It IS not my fault that the patient snuck a cigarette."  
Thirteen: "The patient is an addict. It's not his fault he's jonesing for whatever he can get his hands on."  
Amber: "Not his fault he's jonesing? In what universe does that make any sense?"  
Jake whispers to his Dad "aren't you gonna do something?"  
In normal circumstances, House would simply watch the catfight unfold and enjoy it but given his son is waiting for him to do the adult thing he declares "get him on a nicotine patch. It'll keep up with his joneses" and orders Amber to do her biopsy as well.

While prepping him for the biopsy, Foreman realizes that the patient is wearing all his Nicotine patches at once and overdosing on nicotine. Amber and Kutner also notices blood clotting in the patient fingers, meaning that the patient has DIC (Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation), but the cause of the DIC is unclear. Amber suggests drug impurities, but Thirteen suggests malaria. This intrigues House, and lets Thirteen take over the case.

House heads to the Lecture Hall and plays the piano. He stops after seeing his wife enter the room and smiles knowing they're about to have argument sex.  
"Dr. Cuddy. The face that launched a thousand long faces."  
"That's not what you said last night."  
House smiles and nods at her to continue.  
"Get control of your patient. Strap him to the bed if you have to."  
"I want to keep all four."  
"You can have two."  
"We're not negotiating? I say four, you say three, we finally settle on three and a half. Which would be good news for Taub."  
"You don't want four."  
"I like the number four. That's why I have four kids."  
Cuddy rolls her eyes and replies "first, that makes no sense. Second, if I say three, you get to keep playing your game."  
"Who would you pick?"  
Cuddy is genuinely surprised and asks "are you asking my opinion?"  
"If you have any absolute truths, that would be even better."  
"You never want my advice. You spend your life trying to avoid my advice. "  
House stands and faces her while robbing her of some personal space "you're a bureaucratic nightmare. You're a chronic pain in the ass—good thing I like your ass. And you're a second-rate doctor at best."  
Cuddy smiles and replies "am I blushing?"  
"But you're a great Mommy to our children and you do… know this stuff."  
Cuddy looks at House appreciatively knowing this is ultimately just another one of his tricks. House asks "can we get this over with?"  
Cuddy replies "Taub and Kutner. Taub will stand up to you. You won't like him, but you'll respect him. Kutner shares your philosophy of medicine. God knows I don't need two of you, but he will actually help you."  
House smiles and is about to invade her personal space further but the two are interrupted by the team informing House that the malaria tests came back negative and other tests show that "bad blood fragments" are causing the DIC.

Soon after, House discovers that the patient has been shooting up drugs with dirty needles. The finding explains the blood fragments and the DIC. Kutner soon takes over the case from Thirteen by suggesting chronic pulmonary embolism. An echocardiogram uncovers some masses near the heart, but the study is hard to read because the patient was moving around too much. Then it's Taub's turn to try his theory that the patient may have an abnormal blood vessel wrapping around his trachea. The exploratory surgery of the heart reveals no abnormal vessels, while the masses that they saw on the echo are discovered to be simply enlarged lymph nodes.

After the surgery, House and the team head back to the office.  
House takes his backpack and calls his son "Jake, are you coming?"  
"How about Jimmy?"  
"Who's Jimmy?"  
"Jimmy Quidd, the patient Dad."  
House looks over to the rest of the team and says "the patient is now stable. There not much we can do for now. Go home, get some rest and I'll restart the firing tomorrow."

***

The following morning, House is awaken by the twins jumping up and down the bed.  
"Daddy, wake up."  
House grabs both boys and tickles them.  
After all the giggling, Ethan tells his father "Mommy said you don't have to pick us up from school today."  
"Is that so?"  
Ethan explains "uh-huh, we have to go visit Dr. Lee and have our shots later."  
Charlie makes a gagging gesture to inform his Dad how he feels about getting shots.  
Both Cuddy and House have already educated the boys on the importance of shots.  
And so House does his customary questions "where are you getting your shots this time?"  
Ethan points at his right arm, while Charlie stands up and wiggles his little booty.  
House is about to say something when an idea hits him "measles!"  
Ethan asks "what's measles?"  
Charlie replies "it's one of those rockets that go kaboom!  
House smirks and replies "that will be a missiles, Charlie. Measles is a very contagious disease cause by a virus. However, you both don't have to worry about it because you're getting your shots."  
Ethan asks "Daddy, can we go to the ice cream shop after our shots?"  
"Sure thing!"  
The twins yell "yippee!" and start jumping up and down the bed again.

***

House enters Cuddy's office asking "I need a brain biopsy."  
Cuddy looks as her husband quizzically.  
House clarifies "for the patient." The fellows follow him inside Cuddy's office and then he makes them stand in a line.  
Cuddy asks "you want to drill into a skull of a patient who almost died on the operating table yesterday?"  
House nods enthusiastically then Cuddy shakes her head just as enthusiastically.  
"Why are they here?" as Cuddy points to the fellow all line up in front of her.  
"Because I wouldn't have gotten the answer without each of them."  
"You could have just told me."  
"I want you to feel guilty."  
Cuddy simply rolls her eyes.  
"Amber here thinks the patient's a loser. Thirteen thinks the patient's a winner. Just a regular guy with a regular problem. Shorty here thinks he's gonna be great once he's all grown up. And weirdo who likes looking at your legs thinks… what did you think?"  
Kutner: "Autoimmune."  
House: "Right. Less interesting, but just as important."  
Amber: "We can't all be right."  
House: "You're all wrong. My mom always said that two wrongs don't make a right. She never said anything about four wrongs. I always found that suspicious. Anyway, the patient has plain old measles from hanging out with Oliver Twist and his lot."  
Cuddy: "I assume he's been vaccinated."  
House: "Patient's immune system was shredded with years of drugs. The early markers of rash and fever would have been lost in a druggie. His immune system overreacted- no period- that's why his body went haywire."  
Cuddy: "Very clever. But you're not doing a biopsy without neurological symptoms."  
House: "If I'm right, the virus is in his brain. Wrong course of treatment could be his last course."  
Cuddy: "If you can induce a seizure, you can have your biopsy."

House then tries and succeeds in inducing a seizure on the patient by playing loud music. It IS enough proof to allow him to get his brain biopsy which shows measles. In the end, House fires Amber for her unwillingness to be wrong or to lose. He then fires 13 and keeps Kutner and Taub.  
Cuddy confronts him and tells him that he can't fire both women.  
House shrugs innocently and replies "you told me to hire Kutner and Taub."  
"Because I knew you wouldn't."  
"Oops."  
"Hire Thirteen."  
House nods obediently. Cuddy starts to walk away while an evil smile forms on House's face. Cuddy stops midway to the door, suddenly realizes "this was your plan all along." She simply smiles and declares "well, at least the games are over."  
"How long have you known me?"

***

_**The following day  
**_House walks into Wilson's office and declares "I got tickets to Monster Truck rally this weekend, wanna come?"  
Wilson looks up and replies, "I'm sorry House. I'm driving upstate to visit my family this weekend."  
"Why?"  
"I don't need a reason to visit them."  
House picks up the phone and says "Good! Call your Mom and tell her something has come up and you will not make it this weekend."  
Wilson puts the phone back on the receiver and tells House "Sorry, you'll have to go without me. Bring Jake and the twins with you. I'm sure they'll love it!"  
House looks at Wilson in disbelief and replies "seriously? You'll rather hangout with your parents than smell the cloud of exhaust fumes at a rally?"  
Wilson stands up, pats House on the shoulder and exits his office.

House walks back to his office and sees his son sitting on his desk.  
"Shouldn't you be working with the rest of the team?"  
Jake nods and replies "I was but Mom wants me to give you this" as he hands a patient's file.  
"And why can't your Mom deliver it herself? Why is she denying me the sight of her…?  
Jake groans "please don't finish that sentence."  
"What? Mommy's boy doesn't like hearing about his mommy's good sides."  
"Dad!"  
"Fine. Anyway, go tell Mommy to come and talk me into taking the case."  
"She's tied up in a meeting with a donor."  
House looks at the file and throws it in the trash can.  
Jake picks it up and hands the folder back to his father.  
House smirks at his son, takes the folder and says "I got it. Now run along and tell Mommy that you did your job."  
"Sorry Dad, my job is not only to hand you the file but also ensure that you have a way to communicate with Dr. Milton."  
"Who? And why would I need help communicating with him?"  
"Dr. Kate Milton is the patient and she's trapped in the South Pole."  
House raises his brows and sarcastically asks "so, we don't have enough patients in Jersey. We're now getting them from the South Pole."  
"Mom said she's an adjunct faculty member here but is currently running a psychological research project on the South Pole."  
_**TBC**_

***

_**To all my loyal readers:**__ I'm out of town this week; there will be no updates until early next week. If you're still with me, please drop me a note. Your feedback encourages me write more and often ;-) _


	35. Chapter 35

_**Disclaimer:**__ All rights belong to Fox and David Shore. __**  
Author's Note:**__ A big thanks to my beta __**Ceciilee**__. _

_**To all my readers:**__ thanks again for all your wonderful comments, feedback and suggestions. We are now nearing the end of this fic and I hope you all stick around until the end of this series. _

***

House spends much of the day with his team trying to diagnose Dr. Milton's illness. Around four-thirty in the afternoon, Cuddy drops by his office and asks "can you take the kids home later? My meeting will probably go pass five-thirty."  
House nods and asks "meeting with whom?"  
"A very wealthy Japanese donor. He's planning to donate $100 million to the hospital."  
House raises his brows and asks "what's the catch?"  
"None, so far. He just wants to make sure that the hospital is worth his generosity. Anyway, his assistants has gone through our books and he was impress enough to fly-in from Tokyo."  
"Are you having dinner with him tonight?"  
"No. Hmm…thanks for the reminder. I'll need to call Lina to make you guys' dinner."  
"Don't worry about us. We'll order take-out."  
Cuddy looks at her husband skeptically and adds "I'll ask her stay until I get home."  
"You don't think I can handle the kids?"  
She reaches over, touches her husband's arm and replies "I think you'll be fine with the boys; however, your little princess is another story. She will want attention and you know how she gets when you don't give her enough."  
As much as he hates to admit it, Cuddy is right. Lizzy is now six months old and is quite a social butterfly. She loves the attention from her family and she's not afraid to demand it by squealing or crying.  
House immediately changes the topic and asks "was he hitting on you?"  
"Who? Oh, no! Mr. Tsutomu is old enough to be my father."  
House's eye lit up in recognition of the name and asks "good! I'd like to meet him."  
Cuddy laughs but notices the seriousness in House's face "you're not serious right?"  
"Do you see me laughing?"  
"No, but you hate meeting donors."  
House shrugs his shoulder and replies "the hospital already met all his criteria. Today's visit is the final test."  
"I know. The hospital looks good on paper and he want to see it for himself."  
"No, he's not worried about the hospital. He wants to know if you can pass the test."  
"Me?"  
"Yes, if you're trustworthy enough to carry out his final wishes."  
"Okay and how will meeting you save the day?"  
House reaches over to his wife, puts his hands on her hips while rubbing circles and starts wagging his brows and says "I got skills."  
Cuddy rolls her eyes, gives her husband a peck and a pat on the cheek.  
"What? You don't trust me?"  
She takes two steps towards the door; turns around and gives him her signature lopsided smile.

***

Mr. Tsutomu is a septuagenarian billionaire who is a disciple of Andrew Carnegie. And like his idol, he is spending his twilight years bequeathing his wealth to worthy charities around the world. For much of the day, Mr. Tsutomu has met with several department heads including Dr. Wilson. He probed them of their vision for their departments' as well future projects. Through his translator, Mr. Tsutomu asks Cuddy "you have not inquired why I picked your hospital as recipient of $100 million in trust, Dr. Cuddy."  
Cuddy confidently replies "I'm sure you were impressed by our hospital's staff and services."  
"My office gets thousands of requests from various impressive hospitals and research groups like yours, but I chose your hospital because I heard it is run by a young vibrant woman."  
Cuddy blushes at Mr. Tsutomu's statement but before she can reply there's a knock on the door.  
As the door swings open, the twins excitedly run to greet their Mommy followed by House (carrying Lizzy on a carrier) and Jake in tow.  
Cuddy instinctively kisses the twins but gives her husband a look that asks "what the heck are you doing?"  
As House gives Cuddy an innocent smile, she quickly introduces her family to Mr. Tsutomu.  
When Mr. Tsutomu's assistant points out that House is the head of Diagnostic department, the elder gentleman looks very pleased. House does not only turn-on his charms at full blast but has even tutored the twins to greet Mr. Tsutomu in Japanese. The elderly gentleman is so impressed by the House clan that he declares "Dr. Cuddy, you have a very beautiful family. We shall not take any more of your time. My staff will draw-up all the paperwork to formalize my donation."

***

_**Later that evening  
**_House is reading his medical journal when Cuddy leans over and kisses him on his cheek.  
He raises his brows and asks "what's that for?"  
"For helping me close the deal with Mr. Tsutomu. That was really…sweet."  
"You're welcome."  
"How did you know that Mr. Tsutomu was testing me?"  
"You mean, aside from the fact that I'm a brilliant diagnostic genius?"  
Cuddy laughs and sarcastically replies "of course, how can I forget that fact."  
House shrugs his shoulder and nonchalantly replies "he might have sent me a letter or two asking about the hospital and its administrator."  
Cuddy opens her mouth in shock but quickly recovers and exasperatedly asks "it never occurred to you that sharing that piece of information would be helpful to me?"  
House mockingly replies "oops. My bad."  
"Seriously Greg. You know how many hours Carson, Wilson, Lee and myself have spent the last three weeks preparing for Mr. Tsutomu's visit?"  
"Geesh, you act like that I gave away state's secret. He asked for my opinion and I gave it to him."  
"What did you say?"  
House wags his brows and asks "wouldn't you like to know."  
Cuddy crosses her arm in front of her to signify that she's serious.  
House smile at the gesture and nonchalantly replies "all I said was PPTH is competently run by a young vibrant woman. She's great at what she does, however my opinion may be bias since I'm married to her."  
The response illicits a broad smile from Cuddy as she leans over and kisses her husband again.

"And Greg?"  
"Hmm?"  
"I appreciate you teaching the boys Japanese but… I just heard them telling Lizzy to 'shit roo'."  
House starts laughing and says "its 'ai shiteru'! It means I love you in Japanese."  
Cuddy smile and says "ai shiteru too Dr. House!"  
She shifts closer to sit on her husband's lap and starts kissing him. She gently takes the journal from his hand and says, "Are you done with it?" As she tosses it on the side as she continues to shower him with kisses.  
House breaks off for a few seconds to get some air and whisper "Mrs. House, are you trying to seduce me?"  
Cuddy breathlessly replies "shut up and make love to me."  
House smirks at Cuddy's remark and eagerly does what he's told.  
When the pressure of Cuddy's weight and the growing tent on his crotch becomes uncomfortable, House gently flips his wife so she's under him. He tenderly kisses every centimeter of her expose skin, until she can't take it anymore.  
Cuddy whisper "Greg, I need you now!"  
"I love it when you're being bossy in bed."  
The two spend the next hour in the throngs of passion that by the time Lizzy cries for her midnight feeding; they were both too exhausted and can barely get out bed.  
Cuddy reaches over to her husband and tells him "go back to bed. I'll take care of the little princess."

***

_**The next day (November 16, 2007)  
**_House groggily opens his eyes as he hears the sound of the TV in the room. He peeks by the foot of the bed and sees the twins lying on their stomachs watching TV.  
"Hey, shouldn't you two be in school by now?  
Ethan turns around and greets him "good morning Daddy!"  
Charlie continues watching TV and simply waves his legs.  
Ethan explains "we're going to work with you today!"  
"Really?"  
Ethan enthusiastically nods his head and adds "yup! Mommy said that your cockroach problem is fixed and your patient is in the North Pole."  
House corrects his son "my patient is on the south pole. The weird fat guy in red suite is the one from the North pole."  
Ethan furrows his brows and asks "who's the weird fat guy in red suite?"  
"Santa Clause. But don't worry about him because he doesn't exist."  
"Okay. Daddy?"  
"Yeah?"  
"Mommy is taking us to the Wiggles concert this weekend."  
"Really?"  
Ethan excitedly nods his head again and asks "isn't that great Daddy?"  
House smiles but feels tightness on his chest as he once again deems himself a failure at fatherhood.

_**Flashback begins  
**__After their family road trip over the summer, Cuddy and House agreed to set aside at least one day a month for quality time with the twins separately. While Cuddy has taken Charlie to exciting outings, House pretty much spend his quality time with Ethan at home. When she offers to switch boys with her husband, he reminds her that the boys are different and that Ethan is fine hanging out with his old man at home. What House failed to mention to Cuddy is the fact that the pain on his right leg is progressively becoming unbearable when he stands up for long periods of time- that's why he has never plan for an outside excursion other than a quick trip to the ice cream store. Ethan has never complains about being coop up at home because his Daddy always makes the day interesting by teaching him about music, medicine, bugs, foreign languages, and exotic places. _

_When Dr. Lee's wife (who's the chairwoman of PPTH's family affairs committee) informed Cuddy that she could get front row seats to the Wiggles concert, Cuddy immediately reserved tickets for two.  
Charlie excitedly reveals to his brother "Mommy is taking me to the Wiggle concert this weekend!"  
Ethan was initially disappointed but instead of complaining, the young boy simply walks over to his father's piano and starts tinkering.  
Cuddy felts so bad that she quickly calls to order more tickets. _

_In the meantime, as soon as House learned about the Monster Truck rally in town, he immediately bought three tickets. He thought he'd easily convince Wilson to go with him and Ethan. He rationalize that if his leg acts-up, Wilson can still help out with getting drinks or taking Ethan to the bathroom.  
__**Flashback ends**_

Cuddy walks-in the room and tells the boys that their breakfast is ready.  
As the twins quickly run out of the room, House simply lay back to bed.  
Cuddy sits next to him in bed and leans over to kiss him.  
As she notices him wince in pain, she asks "what's wrong Greg?"  
"You're taking both of them to the concert?"  
Cuddy nods and replies "yes, don't you think the boys will have fun together?"  
House sarcastically retorts "yeah, it's more fun than spending time with their Dad right?"  
She rolls her eyes and replies "I bought four tickets. The boys will be spending quality time with both of us!"  
"Why would I want to spend my weekend in a stadium full of screaming kids?"  
"Because they're not just any kids, they're your kids."

"What if I've already made plans for the weekend?"  
"Like what?"  
"I have tickets to the Monster Track rally…"  
"But Wilson will be out of town this weekend. Oh my god! You wanted to surprise Ethan?"  
House nods his head.  
Cuddy is now smiling from ear to ear "I'm sorry Greg. Why didn't you tell me?"  
"It doesn't matter. I can't take him…"  
"What do you mean? You just said…"  
"Did you see how excited he was about going to the concert? I can't compete with that."  
Cuddy smiles and replies "as much as Ethan likes the Wiggles, he loves you more. When I told him that I had gotten more tickets for the concert, you know what your son said?"  
House shakes his head as another jolt of pain hits him.  
"He said, he'll watch the Wiggles concert video at home. It's the same show and Daddy will not have to walk very far. He only agreed to go if you're coming with us."  
Instead of being pleased in learning what his son had done, House's insecurities get the better of him as he replies "great! Now my three-year old son feels obligated to babysit me."

Cuddy looks at her husband incredulously and exasperatedly asks "what is wrong with you today?"  
House yells to deflect the pain that is overtaking his entire body "obviously, I suck at being a father that's why you have to schedule play dates for me and my kids think I'm so pathetic that I can't be left to my own device."  
Cuddy is surprised by her husband's outburst and she doesn't realize that tears are beginning to fall down her face. All she can muster to say is "after everything we've been through, how can you say that?"  
The pain in House's body is now unbearable and all he wants is to be left alone so he yells "Please leave me alone. You're suffocating me. I don't need you to control every minute of my life."  
Cuddy feels a surge of sadness in her as she replies "I'm sorry if our family life is suffocating you" and she walks out of the room.  
_**TBC**_

_*******_

_Please continue clicking the "Review this story/chapter" button at the bottom of this page. I do appreciate all types of feedback, it's the only way I know if you love, hate, or even reading this story ;-)_


	36. Chapter 36

_**Author's Note:**__ A big thank you to my new beta **i luv ewansmile**__. I greatly appreciate you stepping up to the plate on the 9__th__ inning. You rock!_

_**Warning:**__ Please remain seated with your seatbelt fastened until the plane comes to a complete stop ;-)_

_*******_

_**Fast Forward One year, three months, and three days  
**_He wakes up and sees blur of people walking nearby. He tries to look around but his vision is a little hazy so he waits until his eyes have properly adjusted to the light. After about a minute, he quickly deduces from the bed, the number of IVs sticking out of him that he's in a hospital room. He spots a picture frame by his bedside, and stacks of magazine at a nearby sofa. He tries to sit-up so he can reach for the frame to get a better look at the picture but immediately feels dizzy. He yells for help but notices that no sound is coming out of his mouth. He patiently waits for someone to walk by in the hopes that they will notice him. But after a few futile attempts, he finds himself too exhausted and instead falls sleep.

The second time he wakes up, he sees a blonde nurse checking up on his IV and he asks "where am I?"  
The nurse is initially shocked but quickly replies "Oh my god! Dr. House, you're awake."  
"Where am I?"  
"You're in the hospital. You've been in a coma for more than a year."  
"I'm not in Princeton?"  
"No, you're at Hopkins sir. Let me call Dr. House, he'll be ecstatic to hear that you're awake."  
"Dr. House?"  
"Your son, Dr. Jake House. He's one of our residents."  
"Yes, of course." Thousands of questions swirl through his head. He's been in a coma for more than a year? Where's Lise? Why is he at Hopkins and not in Princeton?  
When the nurse asks "do you need anything else before I leave, Dr. House?"  
He nods and asks "can you hand me that picture?"  
The nurse nods and hands him the picture frame.

House stares at the picture of his children—the boys were all wearing suits, ties and yamakas, while little Lizzy is wearing a beautiful pink dress. House is awed at how the twins have grown and how Lizzy looks like a miniature version of Cuddy with her dark curly hair and lopsided smile. Cuddy is not in the picture so he speculates that she must have been the photographer. Then it hits him like a ton of brick, the memory of that morning—all the awful things that he had said to her come rushing back. Tears start streaming down his cheeks as he searches for his wedding ring or any semblance that he is still married and that she hasn't moved on.

House clutches on to the picture frame as if his life depends on it. If Cuddy has indeed left him, the kids are all he has. He wonders if they remember him or do they want to spend time with him.

He quickly wipes away the tears upon seeing Jake running towards him.  
"Great to have you back Dad!" Jake says as he gives his father a big hug.  
"Thanks! You look good son."  
Jake nods and replies "I wish I can say the same about you, but I'm sure you'll put on some weight as soon as Oma gets a hold of you."  
House smiles upon remembering that Blythe comes by every other day to read him the newspaper.  
He asks "why Baltimore?"  
"I'm doing my residency here and Oma is nearby."  
House nods his head but doesn't inquire further. Instead, he points at the picture and asks "someone's wedding?"  
"Yeah, Wilson's wedding last summer."  
House rolls his eyes at hearing that Wilson has remarried again. He nervously asks "anybody I know?"  
"Yeah, Aunt Rachel."  
Then another piece of information unfolds, House announces "Wilson knocked her up."  
Jake nods and asks "how do you know?"  
He shrugs his shoulder and replies "I don't know. I must have overheard it from somebody."

House continues starring at the picture and declares "they've grown so much" as he gently touches the faces of his young children.  
"Yeah, Lizzy was the flower girl at Aunt Rachel and Wilson's wedding. She sat on a red wagon like a princess and had the twins pull her down the aisle."  
House smile at the story and hesitantly asks "is your Mom around?"  
Jake smirks and retorts "when is she not around? She'll be pissed to find out that you woke up when she's not here."  
House breathes a sigh of relief and smiles again as he remembers another piece of information. Cuddy has been visiting him every day, reading him articles from medical journals and telling him about her day as a full-time endocrinologist. She'd fuss about his hair not being combed correctly or that his beard is not trimmed properly.

Jake adds "Mom will be here shortly. She usually picks up the twins from school around this time."  
House nods and asks "will she bring them today?"  
"Yes, I just spoke to her and she's very excited."  
"How are you holding up son?"  
Jake shrugs his shoulder and replies "I'm fine Dad. How about you?"  
"I feel surprisingly good. Considering I have been asleep for… how long have I been out? What's today?"  
"It's Wednesday, February 4, 2009. You've been asleep for about 15 months."  
"How did I end up in a coma?"  
Jake asks "does it matter?"  
"Yeah! Did I have another Ketamine treatment?"  
"Yes, only this time they were not able to reboot your system as quickly as before. Does your leg still hurt?"  
House reaches over to his right leg and shakes his head "I remember feeling unbearable pain in my leg. I remember saying hurtful things to your Mom and making her cry. I remember…"  
Jake gently comforts his father "its okay. Whatever it was that you said, she forgave you a long time ago."  
"She deserves better. She deserves someone better than me."  
Jake pats his father on the shoulder and states "she probably does, but she chooses to be with you. If you love her as much as she loves you, I think that's all that matters."  
House's gut response is to chastise his son for watching too much of the Dr. Phil show, but he bites his tongue and simply nods.

Father and son are catching up on the news when Cuddy walks into the room  
"Greg?"  
House looks up and catches a glimpse of the most beautiful sight he thought he'll never get a chance to see again—_his family_.  
"Lise."  
Cuddy carries Lizzy over while the twins cautiously peek behind their mother. House quickly reaches out as Cuddy gives him a big hug. She kisses him on the lips but Lizzy pushes away House's face and says "no! Don't kiss my Mommy!"  
House smirks at the spunk of his daughter, while Cuddy calms her by saying "it's okay baby girl. It's Daddy. Do you remember Daddy?"  
Lizzy shakes her head and holds on to her Mommy tighter.  
House smiles and tell his wife "its okay Lise. Maybe later?"  
Cuddy nods and gently encourages the boys to "go say hi to your Daddy."  
Ethan was the first one to step out and extend his hand to his father.  
House quickly take Ethan's hand and shakes it. He looks at his son intently and asks "do you remember me?"  
Ethan nods, while Charlie asks "do you remember us?"  
House smiles and replies "of course. You're Charlie, the artist in the family. And you're Ethan, the other pianist in the family."  
Ethan innocently inquires "are you going to be our Daddy again?"  
House can only nod his head as he fights back the tears. "Do you mind giving Daddy a hug?"  
As Ethan gives his father a hug, House whispers "I love you very much and I will never stop being your Daddy."  
"Why are you crying? Are you sad?"  
"No, these are tears of joy. I'm just happy to see you and…everyone."

While the twins reconnected with their father, Cuddy nervously watches from a few feet away.  
From time to time, she and House will exchange looks and smile at each other.  
Ethan beamingly tells his father that he has memorized all 206 bones of the human body. He goes on reciting them "Ethmoid, Frontal, Occipital, Parietal, Sphenoid, Temporal…"  
Lizzy joins in and starts singing the alphabet.  
Not to be outdone, Charlie informs his Dad that he broke Mikey's nose.  
Cuddy groans at Charlie's story, while House smile and asks "who's Mikey?"  
Ethan offers "he's a kid from school. He said some bad things about our family, so Charlie whacked him on the face."  
Lizzy starts singing "with a quack, quack here and a quack, quack there. Here a quack there a quack everywhere a quack, quack."

Both Cuddy and House looks at each and laugh at Lizzy's singing.  
Charlie adds "you should have seen the blood gushing out of his face Daddy."  
Cuddy admonishes her son "Charlie, that's not nice."  
Charlie puts his arm on his hips and declares "that boy has serious issues Daddy. His father left his Mom for a bimbo and…"  
Cuddy yells "Charlie!"  
Lizzy asks "what's a bimbo?"  
While the twins start laughing, Cuddy roll her eyes and look at her husband as if to say "this is what you've been missing."

Shortly after, Blythe joins the clan and greets her son warmly.  
"How are you feeling?"  
House smiles and replies "well rested. And you?"  
"I'm better now that I know you're okay."  
"Thanks for dropping by and reading me the newspaper."  
She surprisingly asks "you heard it?"  
"Yes, I heard everything." House leans over to his Mom and whispers "including the part where Mrs. Patterson is a hussy for going out on a date with Major Nixon."  
As Blythe turns crimson red, Cuddy takes the cue to excuse herself. She walks over to her husband and says "I think I'll take the kids down to the cafeteria for some snacks, do you want anything?"  
House signals for her to come closer as he whispers "I love you Mrs. House. Do you think I can I have some jell-o please?"  
Cuddy smiles at her husband and softly replies "I love you too Dr. House and we'll see if the kids are willing to share a jell-o with their Daddy."

After Cuddy and the kids left the room, Blythe moves her chair closer to her son's bed.  
She leans over and said "while you were sleeping, John passed away."  
House nods and replies "I know."  
"How did you know? I never told you..."  
"Lise mentioned it. You weren't the only one who's been talking my ears off" House teases his Mom.  
"I never mentioned it because I didn't want you to get upset."  
House thinks to himself "are you kidding me? I would have been doing the jig if I could actually move." But instead, he asks his Mom "how are you holding up?"  
"It's not the same. But Lisa and her family have been wonderful. I've been keeping busy babysitting my granddaughter. While she might be a spitting image of your wife, she's definitely your daughter."  
House smirks at the mental picture of Lizzy riding a bike with him and raising hell through the corridors of Princeton Plainsboro Hospital. Speaking of Princeton, he made a mental note to ask Lise why she quit her dream job for Hopkins.  
_**TBC**_

_*******_

_Please continue clicking the "Review this story/chapter" button at the bottom of this page. I do appreciate all types of feedback, it's the only way I know if you love, hate, or even reading this story ;-)_


	37. Chapter 37

_**Author's Note:**__ A very big thanks to my awesome beta __**i luv ewansmile**__ for editing this chapter._

_*******_

After spending a couple of hours with his family, House was shuttled in and out of his room for a battery of tests. By 7:30 PM, he is physically exhausted but mentally his brain is going on overdrive. With the little information he's been able to remember and piece-in together, the pain in his leg began about a week before Thanksgiving 2007. He had said some things to Cuddy that he wished he could take back. He regretted the fact that it was the last thing he had told her before he slipped into a coma, or was it?  
_**  
Flashback (November 16, 2007, 11:45AM)**_  
_House walks into Cuddy's office as she is setting up lunches for the twins. The boys excitedly greets their father as soon as he enters the room. She looks up and immediately notices that House is using his walking cane. She didn't acknowledge him because she's still furious at what he said to her earlier that day.  
Ethan, who is wearing dress pants, a white shirt with a tie and a lab coat excitedly informs his Daddy "I did a round with Mommy today."  
"Really? Where did you go?"  
"We went to pedia(trics) ward. There were kids who have cancer and they don't have hair. Can you and Uncle Wilson fix them?"  
House replies "We'll try," but his eyes remain gazing at his wife.  
He looks over at Charlie (who is wearing a jacket, band T-shirt, blue jeans and nike shox) and asks "and what did you do mini-me?"  
Charlie shrugs his shoulder and replies "I did clinic with Uncle Wilson and it was boring. There was no blood gushing or anything like that."  
House smiles and says "well, you'll only see fun stuff if you're with Daddy."  
The twins' eyes light up as they ask "can we do rounds with you, Daddy?"  
But before House can reply, Cuddy informs the boys "eat your lunch."  
While the boys are eating lunch, House does his darndest to catch his wife's attention. But when she simply avoids any eye contact and refuses to budge, House announces "I want ketamine."  
Cuddy is not only shocked by the request but exasperated by his lack of filter in front of the children. She calmly asks the twins "boys, can you play outside so Daddy and I can talk?"  
Ethan replies "okay" and quickly drags Charlie out into the courtyard._

_House reaches over for Cuddy's hand but she pulls away.  
Cuddy glares at him and tells him "you're not getting off that easy."  
"I know and I deserve it. I just want to say I'm sorry and I didn't mean what I said. I was in pain."  
"And you're not in pain anymore?"  
"I am, but not as bad as this morning."  
"On the scale of 1-10, how was it this morning?"  
"Twelve."  
"And now?"  
"Five."  
Cuddy worriedly asks "did we overdo it last night?"  
He smirks and jokingly replies "you didn't just ask me that question?"  
She forces a smile and adds "you said some cruel things this morning and I'm scared that…"  
"That I will hurt our kids?"  
"No, that you will shut me out again. How could you not tell me that the pain is back?"  
"I didn't want to worry you."  
"This is not about you or me anymore, this is about our family Greg."  
"I know. I thought I could manage the pain. I just didn't want our kids to see their Dad as a cripple."  
"Are you kidding me? You could cut both your legs off; they'll still think their Dad is superman!"  
House laughs at the mental picture of Damon Wayan playing Handi-Man (the handicapped superhero).  
Cuddy asks "Greg, are you serious about going through Ketamine again?"  
House nods and replies "it's either that or going back to Vicodin."  
__**End of Flashback **_  
_  
__**7:35AM**_  
The next morning, House receives an early wakeup call from his kids. It seems, the kids have plenty of things that they would like to share with their father—only they all wanted to tell him about it at the same time.  
"Whooaa…I need you guys to slowdown and speak one at a time okay?"  
Ethan pulls his 'I'm older than you two card' and starts with "Daddy, when are you coming home?"  
"I hope soon."  
"How long is that?"  
"Not long. Is everything alright?"  
"I want to show you something."  
"Okay, what do you want to show me? Maybe you can bring it with you when you come and visit."  
"I'm…I'm playing the piano in school. Can you come?"  
"Yes, I…I wouldn't miss it for the world."  
"Thank you Daddy. Here's Charlie."  
Ethan hands the phone to Charlie but Lizzy decides that she doesn't want to be the last so she grabs the phone from him.  
Charlie complains "Mooom, Lizzy grabbed the phone."  
Lizzy asks "is this my Daddy?"  
House smile and replies "yes, this is your Daddy. How are you baby girl?"  
"Daddy, wanna hear Lizzy sing?"  
"Sure sweetie."  
As Lizzy starts singing 'Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star'  
Charlie groans and puts his fingers in his ears.

Meanwhile, Cuddy tells the boys to hurry and change so they won't be late for school.  
Charlie protests "Mooom…I didn't get to talk to Daddy."  
Cuddy kisses Charlie's head and says "I know sweetie. I promise you can speak to Daddy later."  
Charlie folds his arms in front of him and announces "That's so unfair. Lizzy always gets everything!"  
"No, she doesn't. She just doesn't have to be in school, that's why she can…" Cuddy stops mid-sentence upon noticing that her daughter has left the phone on the table and began dancing.  
"Honey, Daddy can't see you dance. You need to pick-up the phone and talk to Daddy."  
As Oma Blythe walks into the apartment, Lizzy runs off to greet her.

Cuddy picks up the phone and asks "Greg, are you still there?"  
"Yeah, I'm here. What happened to my little American idol?"  
"Sorry, she already ran off to her Oma. How are you feeling today?"  
"Okay, I guess. I had them remove the Foley. "  
"That's wonderful news Greg. Did you have trouble going to the bathroom?"  
"My legs were a bit shaky but I got there in time to do my business. Lise?"  
"Yes, Greg?"  
House hears one of the twins yelling "Mommy, where's my backpack?" so, he hesitantly asks "what time will you be by today?"  
"I'll bring the kids around three after I pick the twins up from school. Is that okay?"  
"Yes, I…I was wondering if we can you know…maybe catch up alone."  
"Oh ok. How about if we have lunch together?"  
"I think that will be good. And Lise?"  
"Greg?"  
"Can you bring me some underwear and some decent clothes? I don't feel like mooning everyone as I walk around the hospital."  
Cuddy smiles and replies "sure honey. I'll see you in a few."

_**9:50AM**_  
"House!" an excited Wilson greets him on the phone.  
"Hey Wilson. How's married life?"  
"You sound great! So, you heard huh?"  
"Yup, when will the Wilson spawn be gracing us with his or her presence?"  
"Rachel is due in two weeks. By the way, it's a she so now Lizzy will have someone to play with."  
House smiles and sarcastically replies "that's just what I need, two mini-Cuddys in full stereo."  
Wilson laughs and adds "Rachel always makes Lizzy sing to the baby over the phone. The baby seems to enjoy her voice."  
"Great! Do you think we can get someone to sign her up as a recording star? Lise and I can live off her income as a rock star to unborn babies."  
Wilson smirks at his best friend's remark and quickly realizes that the old House is back! "So, when can you go home?"  
"Hopefully in a few days. I need to continue with my physical therapy but I can do that as an outpatient."  
"Glad to have you back House! It hasn't been the same without you."  
"Stop being a girl Wilson! I'm not having an Oprah moment with you over the phone."  
Wilson rolls his eyes and answers "I'm just saying. Princeton hasn't been the same without you and Cuddy."  
House takes a deep breath and asks "so, who's now running my department?"  
"Foreman ran it for awhile, but the Board shut it down after Cuddy left about six months ago."  
"So, I was in Princeton for almost a year? Why did we move six months ago?"  
"After you went into a coma, there were lots of talks about what caused it. Rumors were circulating that you overdosed on Vicodin; morphine…I even heard you took methadone. As always, Cuddy was able to squash all of these rumors with her usual efficiency. While she was busy helping Jake settle into his new apartment last summer, your father died. She took a leave of absence for a few days to help your Mom with all the final arrangements. That's when Farrell staged his coup by ordering for an audit of the supposedly missing vials of Ketamine."  
"How the heck did he pull that off?"  
"We weren't sure at that time. But we have since found out that he bribed one of the nurses to spill the beans."  
"Lise was fired because of me?"  
"Are you kidding me? Cuddy was about five steps ahead of Farrell. She not only had her I's dotted and her T's crossed but somehow had the supposedly missing vials of Ketamine locked safely where it's supposed to be."  
"God Wilson! Are you trying to put me back into a comatose?"  
"What? I thought you wanted to catch up on had happened in the last year and a half."  
"No, I ask why we moved to Baltimore six months ago?"  
"Oh, Jake had appendicitis and after his surgery your wife decided that she needs to keep an eye on all her cubs."  
"So, she quit because she wants to keep an eye on Simba?"  
"Yes, Mufasa. Queen Sarabi wants to make sure that all your cubs are safe while you were…sleeping."  
House shakes his head in amazement and quips "well, at least we know that she loves our spawn more than that darn hospital."  
"And House?"  
"Yeah? The board hasn't given up on Cuddy. They're hammering out a sweet deal to lure her back."  
"And you're telling me this because?"  
"You're part of the sweet deal."  
"How? Are they planning to continue paying my salary while I lay in a coma?"  
House's sarcastic remark is greeted with silence.  
"Seriously?"  
_**TBC**_

_*******_

_Please continue clicking the "Review this story/chapter" button at the bottom of this page. I do appreciate all types of feedback, it's the only way I know if you love, hate, or even reading this story ;-)_


	38. Chapter 38

_**Author's Note:**__ A very big thank you again to my beta __**i luv ewansmile**__. You're the best!_

_*******_

"You're part of the sweet deal."  
"How? Are they planning to continue paying my salary while I lay in a coma?"  
House's sarcastic remark is greeted with silence.  
"Seriously?"  
"Technically no. But they're willing to revive your department and letting you flexiplace."  
"What do you mean?"  
"You're still the department head but your deputy will handle the day-to-day operations. They're letting you run your diagnostic differential from home."  
"Sweet. No clinic duties?"  
"That was never in your original contract. Your wife added that section."  
"Oh… Well, as appealing as that deal is, you know it will not be up to me right?"  
"I know. I just thought I'd give you a heads up since you're technically my brother-in-law now."  
"And you are now technically my ex-BFF."  
Wilson rolls his eyes and bid his friend goodbye "nice talking to you House."  
"Goodbye Wilson."

_**11:30AM**_  
Cuddy arrives to see her husband lying in bed reading some cheesy tabloid. Upon spotting her, House throws the tabloid towards the sofa and gingerly shifts his weight so he can swing his leg to the floor. A simple movement that used to take him a few seconds is now taking him a few minutes. Even though the pain on his leg is gone, his body is not reacting as quickly as his brain. Cuddy can see House's irritation as he purse his lips and furrows his brows in frustration. She quickly drops her bag and walks towards the bed. She prevents him from standing up by positioning herself between his legs and gently tracing her fingers on his face. She gives him a kiss on the forehead and asks "what's the hurry? Do you have places you'd rather be?"  
House looks up and shakes his head. "I just wanted to walk over and greet you. As you can see…my legs are a little bit rusty."  
"Greg, you just woke up from a 15-month coma yesterday. Give your body a little time to adjust."  
"I know. I've just missed you so much" as he puts his arm around Cuddy's waist.

Cuddy leans down to give him a kiss, however their lip lock quickly turns into passionate tonsil hockey. When House slips his hands under Cuddy's shirt, she half-heartedly reminds him "Greg, we're in the hospital."  
"Uh-huh. I just wanna say hi to the girls. Did they miss me as much as I missed them?"  
Cuddy replies "yes" weakly as she feels her whole body reacting to the warmth of his touch.  
He tenderly caresses her breast as he continues kissing her. He stops as he notices the tears falling down her cheeks.  
"Lise, what's wrong?"  
"I'm just a little overwhelmed. I still can't believe that you're here with me again."  
House stands up, wipes away her tears and says "I'm here and I'm not going anywhere."  
"Do you know how many times I've longed for a chance to have you touch and kiss me again?"  
House shakes his head and continues gazing into her eyes.  
Cuddy answers her own question "too many times. If not for our children, I don't think I'd have the strength to wake up every morning. Their optimism is the one strand of hope that kept me from falling apart. "  
"I'm sorry you had to go through this alone. I love you so much Lise"  
"I love you too Greg. If the pain ever comes back, promise me that you'll consider everything else before Ketamine."  
"Huh?  
"I'm warning you right now that I will never consent to putting you in a chemically induced coma ever again."  
Cuddy's statement quickly gets an "okay" from House.  
"And, Greg?"  
"Yes, mistress?"  
"Is that Mr. Happy poking me?"  
House takes a deep breath and announces "glad you noticed that he's ready for action. Wanna take Mr. Happy for a spin?"  
Cuddy rolls her eyes and answers "as much as my equipment is long overdue for maintenance service, I will not settle for less than a fine dining experience."  
"You mean I gotta wine and dine you before I can ride you again?"  
As if on cue, Jake walks into the room pushing a food service cart.  
"Did someone order some cold spring crab cake sandwiches from Miss Shirley's?"  
Miss Shirley's is one Cuddy's favorite restaurant in Baltimore.  
Cuddy quickly wipes away her tears and gives House (and Jake) her signature lopsided smile.

***

Shortly after Cuddy left for her office, Jake pops back to his father's room.  
"So, did you score some brownie points with Mom?"  
"I think so. Thanks for picking up the food for us."  
"Not a problem. Wanna go for a walk?"  
"Nope. I wanna watch my soaps."  
"Come on Dad, _**Passion Prescription**_ will not be on for another hour."  
House looks at his son and asks "so, you're the one who has been religiously turning my soaps on?"  
"You know about that? Were you aware of what's going on around you all this time?"  
"I think so. I remember bits and pieces of things—your grandmother reading the obituaries, your Mom fussing about my hair, my soap being on, and other tidbits that your Mom would tell me about the kiddies."  
"That's so cool Dad!"  
"What I find strange is I don't remember anything when I was in Princeton. My memories are mostly those of the past six months."  
"Well, Oma and I couldn't visit you as often as we wanted to then. But after the move, we could drop by anytime and help Mom with the kids too."

Jake unfolds the walker and moves it closer to his father.  
House whined "I already told you, I don't want to walk."  
"Come on Dad, I'll show you where they keep the piano."  
House smiles at his son because he knows that Jake is dangling a very tempting carrot in front of him. He missed tinkering with his piano, but he's afraid that he'll get too tired mid-way or have to go to the bathroom.  
As if reading his father's mind, Jake adds "don't worry Dad, if you get tired we'll grab a wheel chair along the way."  
"You're not going to leave me alone until I walk with you, huh?"  
"That's the plan."  
House grips his hands on the walker's handle and lifts himself gingerly. He moves his right foot and then his left foot. After noticing that his father is doing great, Jake heads towards the door.  
He looks back and realizes that his father is heading the opposite direction.  
"Dad? We are going this way"  
"Hold your horses. I'm taking a pit stop."  
"Okay, do you need help?"  
House lifts an arm and waves it to his son as if to say "go away."  
After peeing, he washes his hands and sees a glimpse of his reflection in the mirror. His eyes are tired; his hairs are thinning and graying; and his body is about twenty pounds lighter than he was a year ago. He takes a deep breath and tells himself "you can do this Greg."

As both father and son are walking in the hallway, Jake asks "what was the coolest thing about being in a coma? I mean when you were aware of what was going on around you."  
House smirks and replies "being able to hear people's honest thoughts. I remember one day when my Mom was reading the obituary of someone she knew from college. She said, if she had to do it over again she'd be like her friend and she would pursue her dreams of being a singer. I never knew that my Mom wanted to be singer."  
Jake smiles and replies "I think Oma might be living vicariously through little Lizzy cause that girl won't stop singing."  
"Yeah, I heard her this morning."  
Jakes shakes his head and animatedly describes "Thursday is Lizzy's night at our humble abode and let's just says that our little miss sunshine goes all out with costume changes and all."  
House rolls his eyes and asks "seriously?"  
"You better believe it! It's actually a family event—Ethan is the musical director, Charlie is the set designer, Oma is in charge of hair & costume, Mom is the one-person cheering squad, and I'm supposed to be Ryan Seacrest. Don't ask me why but your daughter is in love with him so I have to pretend to be him and I have to interview the star after the show."  
House laughs at Jake's story.  
"I know it's silly but I think it helps Mom and Oma get away from it all for awhile. I could just imagine how tough it must be for both of them. You know to lose their husbands—one to a coma and the other to death."  
House nods at his son's remark. It never occurred to him to equate Cuddy's suffering with his Mom's widowhood. Blythe was married to John for more than half their life, while he and Lise have known each other for about the same time.  
"It has been a tough year for the entire family. Of course, Mom shouldered the brunt of it alone. I remember Ethan mentioning that he and Charlie would hear Mom cry every night back in Princeton."  
"Have you heard her cry?"  
"Not alone. She and Oma will often chat out in the balcony. Sometimes they laugh, sometimes they cry, but they have each other so I don't worry about them anymore."  
"She seems to like working here."  
Jake smiles and replies "I think Mom likes the flexibility this job gives her. She gets to spend more time with her family and get back to being a doctor. However, you can tell that she misses all the action of being in charge."  
"You think she'd be interested in going back to Princeton?"  
Jake's eyes light up and ask "Seriously?"  
House jokingly replies "Wow! Are you that eager to get rid of your family?"  
"Of course not! However, I wouldn't mind having a place to myself again."  
"So, Mom and the kiddies live with you?"  
Jake nods "And Oma stays with us during weekdays."  
"Well, let me see what I can do about that."  
"Are you thinking about going back to Princeton Dad?"  
"I…I think your Mom has rearranged her life to accommodate me and its time that I return the favor."  
Jake nods and replies "she never sold our house in Princeton so I wouldn't be surprised if she jumps at the chance of going back."  
"And my old apartment?"  
"Wilson and Aunt Rachel still live there. Well, until they finish building their dream home."  
"You know I kept that apartment for you."  
"For me? Why?"  
"In case you'd want to work for your Mom."  
"Maybe, I can work for you after my residency."  
"I think that will be awesome…that is if I'm still working."  
"You're not seriously considering retiring already?"  
"Nope! But I've been thinking about staying at home with the kids. Maybe, start working on that book that I've been meaning to write."  
"Ah, the long awaited sequel to 'Thinking Out of the Box.'"  
"Yeah, I'm thinking about calling it 'It's Never Lupus!'"  
Both father and son share a hearty laugh.  
_**TBC**_

_*******_

_Please continue clicking the "Review this story/chapter" button at the bottom of this page. I do appreciate all types of feedback, it's the only way I know if you love, hate, or even reading this story ;-)_


	39. Chapter 39

_**Author's Note:**__ Big thanks to __**i luv ewansmile **__for being such an awesome editor. Your quick turnaround is greatly appreciated._

_*******_

_**The following week (8:20AM)  
**_Cuddy just dropped off the twins at school and is on her way to work when her phone rings.  
"Hello"  
"Lisa? This is Rachel."  
"Hey sis. Is everything alright? The baby?"  
"Oh, I'm fine. I'm so ready for her to pop out, but she's just taking her sweet time."  
"Just hang in there. She'll eventually come out.  
"If she doesn't hurry, I'll just have to force her out" Rachel jokingly adds.  
"Well, you know what works for me when I was carrying the twins?"  
"What?"  
"Greg and I…you know."  
"You did not! Seriously?"  
"You know what they say, desperate times calls for desperate measures."  
"Did it work?"  
"I gave birth to the twins the following day."  
"Oh, that's good to know."

"Anyway, where are you right now?"  
"I'm actually in your house. I just finished watering the plants and now I'm going sit down and relax on the couch."  
"Thanks for keeping an eye on our house."  
"Are you kidding me? This is my sanctuary after every visit to my contractor."  
"Is your dream home finally finished yet?"  
"Almost. They're just waiting for a few deliveries and final inspections."  
"When can you finally move-in?"  
"They promise to have everything ready for us by the end of the week."  
"That's wonderful! Just in time for little Rebecca's birth."  
"Hopefully, she'll come out first because I don't think I can survive another day."  
"Just hang in there Rach."  
"Speaking of hanging on. How is House?  
"He's doing great. The doctors just gave him a clean bill of health and they're actually discharging him this afternoon."  
"That's wonderful news sis! Does that mean, you're all coming back to Princeton soon?"  
"It's too early to tell. Greg has therapy every day and the kids are enjoying their time with their Oma."  
"Last time I checked, Princeton has one of the top outpatient therapy centers in the world. As for Blythe, why don't you invite her to move to Princeton with you?"  
"You're assuming that I can easily get another job in Princeton and that Blythe would like to move-in with us."  
"Absolutely! First of all, James told me that the Board is very interested in hiring you back. Second of all, Blythe doesn't have to move-in with you. Just build an in-law suite addition to your house, like the one we built for Mom and Harry."  
"Whoa…did Wilson actually say that the Board is interested in hiring me back? And you got Mom to agree to move-in with you?"  
"Yup! James said something about the Board hammering a deal that you can't say no to. As for Mom, I might have said that you're moving back to Princeton so she'll be near all her grandchildren."  
"Rachel!"  
"Come on sis, it'll be awesome! Our children will grow up together. Our husbands are already best friends so they won't mind hanging out with each other. Mom and Blythe get along great so that's not a problem either."  
Cuddy smiles at the mental picture of her and Rachel leaving the kids to House and Wilson to go shopping. But she quickly checks herself and replies "I'll believe the Board's offer when I see it. Until then, I will concentrate on the here and now."  
"Think about it sis. Meanwhile, do you mind if I bring my contractor over so he can tell us where would be a good spot to add an in-law suite?"  
"Rachel!"

***

_**2:30PM  
**_By the time Cuddy walks-into the room, House is already dressed and ready to go. She gives him a kiss and asks "are you ready to come home now?"  
"Been ready for 15 months."  
"Great! We can pick up the twins on the way home."  
But before they can leave the room, they bump into a petite man who did a double-take and immediately screams like a little girl "Oh my god! He's awake!"  
House looks at his wife in horror.  
Cuddy smiles and reaches for the man's hands "Manny, calm down."  
"Oh my god! Dr. Cuddy, your hubby is awake and walking."  
"Manny, I forgot to call you and cancel his appointment."  
All of sudden House remembers Cuddy fussing about his hair and his beard. Manny is the barber that drops by every few weeks to cut his hair and trim his beard.  
"This is so exciting…I never had a client miraculously wake up and get well. Dr. House, I'm Manny the…"  
House interjects "yeah, you're the barber."  
Manny raises both his hands to cover his mouth in mock shock. "Qué barbaridad! I can't believe you insult me like that Papi."  
Cuddy quickly apologizes "Oh Manny, he doesn't mean any harm. Greg, this is Manny. He's not only a hair stylist but a miracle worker. He's been making sure that your hair and beard are nice and neat all these months."  
Manny smiles and proudly adds "I make sure that you look good for your wifey."  
All House can do is nod and mutter "thanks."

As Cuddy is driving to pick-up the twins from school, House asks "so, what now?"  
"We'll pick up the twins and go home."  
"I didn't mean 'now' now. I mean, what's next?"  
"You will need to continue with your therapy and concentrate on getting your strength back."  
"Okay, and then what?"  
"Then, we'll re-evaluate our situation and go from there."  
House replies "okay" and asks "can we go back to Princeton?"  
"Sure, I just spoke to Rachel this morning. And I promised that we'll drive up for a visit after the baby is born."  
"Oh, how about going back to Princeton for more than a visit?"  
"Do you want us to move back to Princeton permanently?"  
"I asked first."  
Cuddy takes a deep breath and replies "it depends."  
"Depends on what?"  
"If I get a job and if we can find an acceptable therapy clinic for you."  
"If hypothetically speaking, you get offered our old job back. Do we hypothetically speaking be considering going back?"  
"Is this hypothetical person named Wilson?"  
House smirks and replies "he might have mentioned some things."  
"Rachel did too. She's now making plans on adding an in-laws suite to our home in Princeton so Blythe can stay with us."  
"Seriously? Is Mom okay with that?"  
"I don't know. I haven't spoken to your Mom and more importantly I have not seen this mysterious offer."  
Cuddy pulls over the parking lot and asks "are you coming?"  
"Lise? If we're thinking about making additions to our house, can we have an indoor pool?"  
Cuddy rolls her eyes and adds "we'll have this discussion after I have this offer in my hand."

Upon entering the school, House asks "our boys go to a Catholic school?"  
Cuddy smile and replies "it's the only private school that hasn't banned them yet."  
"Seriously?"  
"Let's just say the boys have had an interesting six-month in Baltimore" as she points at the classroom on the left.  
Before House can ask Cuddy for more details, a lady came over and says "hi Lisa."  
"Hi Marissa" Cuddy greets the lady.  
Cuddy introduces "this is my husband Greg" and informs House "Marissa's son Mikey is in the same class as the boys."  
House nods and is about to ask something when he sees Mikey and his SpongeBob Band-Aid on his nose. He thinks to himself "yup! Definitely Charlie's handiwork."  
Cuddy asks "how's your nose Mikey?"  
"It doesn't hurt anymore Miss Lisa."  
Then the twin yells "Mommy, Daddy."  
Mikey looks back at the twins then House, and asks "you're Charlie and Ethan's Daddy?"  
House nods  
"Wow! You are real."  
The twins quickly give their parents hugs and kisses.

As Cuddy is parking the car, Ethan asks "are you dropping us at Oma's place?"  
"Actually, Mommy doesn't have to go back to the hospital today. So, you both will be hanging out with Mommy and Daddy for the rest of the day."  
The twins excitedly yell "cool!"  
As Cuddy unlocks the door for the boys, she notices that House is busy looking around.  
"Greg?"  
"Yeah?"  
"Can you keep an eye on the boys while I unload the bags?  
"Okay. Come on boys."  
Charlie asks "so what are we doing today Daddy?"  
"I don't know. What do you want to do?"  
Ethan asks "we can go swim in the pool."  
"Its thirty degrees outside son, we'll freeze our butt off!"  
The twins start laughing and Cuddy asks "what's so funny boys?"  
Ethan replies "Daddy said butt."  
And Charlie starts laughing "Uh huh huh huh"  
Cuddy rolls her eyes and whispers to House "they're not allowed to watch 'Beavis and Butt-head' so, every time they hear the word butt they just go crazy."  
As they enter the elevator, House worriedly asks "shouldn't we pick Lizzy up?"  
Cuddy smiles and whispers "your Mom lives on the eleventh floor. We'll swing by before we head over to our place."  
"Oh, that's convenient."  
The boys quickly get off the elevator and runs towards their Oma's apartment.  
House asks "I guess they do that all the time?"  
"Yes, I drop them off here after I pick them up from school. Blythe babysits all three of them until I get home from work."  
When they enter Blythe's apartment, House immediately smells the pot roast on the stove.  
Cuddy smiles and adds "she always cook dinner for us. Jake often jokes that our kitchen is down on the 2nd floor since it's where we come to eat."  
Blythe walks over to her son and gives him a welcome home hug. She asks "are you two hungry? I'm cooking pot roast for dinner but I have freshly baked cookies on the kitchen counter."  
House looks around and says "Wow! I must say you have a swinging pad Mom."  
Blythe laugh and replies "actually, this is Jake's condo. He gave it up for me so I can have my own space."  
The condo apartment is about 1000 square foot in size. But it appears bigger because of the 12-foot high ceiling as well as a couple of huge windows flanking both the west and north front of the condo. The top of the line kitchen has an eat-in peninsula that overlooks the dining room and living room which makes it convenient for babysitting. But the money shot is the spectacular view of the city. He thinks to himself "this view alone will cost at least half a million dollars."  
House quickly did the math on his head, looks over to his wife and asks "how can we afford this plus the mortgage back home?"  
Cuddy replies "your parents gave the condo to Jake as a graduation gift."  
A very confused House repeats "my father gave this place to our son?"  
Blythe looks at her son and says "your father was a good man. He worked very hard and made sure that his family is taken care of."  
House is about to argue when Cuddy squeezes his hands. Cuddy quickly asks "Blythe, do you mind watching the kids for about half an hour while I get Greg settled down at our place?"  
An equally confused Blythe replies "of course."

Cuddy quickly drags her husband out of the apartment without even saying goodbye to the kids.  
House asks "what's that about?"  
"I'm sorry, I just don't want you to say something that will hurt your Mom."  
"I wasn't going to…well, maybe I was. That son-of-a-bitch never gave anything to anybody for no reason. Did something happen when I was in a coma?"  
_**TBC**_

_*******_

_Please continue clicking the "Review this story/chapter" button at the bottom of this page. I do appreciate all types of feedback, it's the only way I know if you love, hate, or even reading this story ;-)_


	40. Chapter 40

_**Author's Note:**__ A very big thank you again to my beta __**i luv ewansmile**__. You're simply the best!  
_

_*******_

"I wasn't going to…well, maybe I was. That son-of-a-bitch never gave anything to anybody for no reason. Did something happen while I was in a coma?"  
"Greg, your father has always been very fond of his grandkids. When you were in a coma, your father drove every month to make sure that Blythe staid with us for the weekend. He'd play with the kids but never stayed overnight. Instead, he told us that he'll be visiting an old war buddy of his in Newark."  
"Yeah, sounds like him. His war buddies probably meant more to him than his family."  
"No Greg! There was no war buddy in Newark. He was undergoing radiation treatment at Princeton General. He hid his illness from your mother and from all of us."  
"What? But Mom said he died of a heart attack."  
"Technically yes, but he was diagnosed with stage 3 lung cancer a few months earlier. He tried a couple of rounds of radiation but when his condition was upgraded to stage 4 terminal lung cancer, he quit trying."  
"Does Mom know?"  
"No, I only found out about it after the funeral and I didn't see the point in telling her."  
"Why did he hide it from her?"  
"Maybe because she had enough to worry about with her only son being in a coma?"  
House shakes his head and answers his own question "no, he hid it because he was too proud to admit that he had cancer. In John's book, illness is a sign of weakness."  
"He did a great job hiding it. I never even noticed anything and I saw him at least three times that month."  
"When did you last see him?"  
"We celebrated yours and Jake's birthday on June 11th (2008), Jake's graduation was on June 20th, we closed on Jake's condo on the 27th and he passed away the following day."  
House simply shakes his head and thinks out loud "probably willed himself to live a few more days so he can complete his mission."  
"Greg, I'm sorry you had a lousy relationship with your father but our kids adored him. Jake even gave a heartfelt eulogy during his funeral."  
"Yeah, I bet he spoke eloquently on how generous his grandfather was for giving him a condo for graduation."  
"Actually, Jake spoke of the day he graduated from medical school, feeling discouraged and lost because he can't share the special occasion with his father. And how his Opa told him how proud he was that he's following his father's footstep. That if his father had been able to attend his graduation, he'd give him a hug and tell him how much he love him."  
House is absolutely stunned at what his wife just revealed.

As Cuddy slides the card, the elevator opens to their foyer, House is once again astonished at the size and the breath taking view from the corner unit of their 24th floor apartment.  
"Okay, if Jake's pad downstairs is courtesy of John House how can we possibly afford this?"  
"Your father apparently was quite a real estate mogul. Did you know that he owns several real estate properties?"  
"No! Where? How?"  
"According to real estate records, your father bought several foreclosed waterfront properties around Fells Point and Annapolis back in the early eighties. He held on to most of them until about seven years ago when he sold all his Fells Point properties to one developer."  
"Let me guess, the same developer who built this condominium complex?"  
"How did you know?"  
"As I said, my father never gave anything to anybody for no reason."  
"I wasn't planning on discussing your father's will on your first day home but I guess now will be as good a time as any. Your father left us this condo and his Annapolis home."  
House eyed his wife skeptically and asks "What's the catch? Does he want us to toast a cognac and leave three roses on his grave every year?"  
Cuddy rolls her eyes and continues "he also left trust funds for all his grandchildren."  
"I'm shocked that he included me… or any of us in his will. I just assume that he'll leave everything to the corps, since that's his real family."  
Cuddy puts her arms around her husband and asks "are you okay?"  
House simply nods and replies "I'm good. Tired, but good."

As Cuddy puts away the bags, the phone rings.  
She yells "Greg, can you take that?"  
"Okay" as House grabs Cuddy's cell phone from her purse.  
Blythe is on the other end asking for Cuddy.  
House asks "is everything okay?"  
Blythe hesitantly replies "yes, Ethan just wants to talk to Lisa."  
"Okay"  
Cuddy comes out of the room and asks "Who is it?"  
"It's my Mom. She said Ethan needs to talk to you."  
"Oh Shit!" Cuddy mutters as soon as she hears her son's name.  
She quickly picks up the phone and answers "hi honey. This is Mommy."  
"Mommy, where are you?"  
"Mommy just went upstairs to drop off her bags."  
"But… you didn't say goodbye."  
"I know and I'm sorry honey. Mommy just forgot."  
"I was very worried Mommy. Is Daddy okay?"  
Cuddy hears Charlie in the background saying "You worry about everything."  
Ethan glares at his brother as Cuddy informs him "Daddy is okay."  
"Is Daddy near you?"  
"Yes, Daddy is right beside me."  
"Oh…Okay."  
"Do you want Mommy and Daddy to pick you up now?"  
"Yes please. Lizzy is awake now from her nap."  
"Okay, we'll come down and pick you up."  
"Mommy?"  
"Yes Ethan?"  
"I love you Mommy. I just don't want anything bad to happen to you and Daddy."  
"Oh Ethan, I love too. Nothing bad is going to happen to Mommy and Daddy."

House asks "what's that about?"  
"Ethan was just worried about us"  
"From your reaction, this is nothing new. How bad does he get?"  
"You know how Ethan gets anxious when he worries."  
House nods and encourages his wife to continue.  
"After you went in a comma, Ethan started having separation anxiety. We started noticing that he was becoming clingier and obsessively checks-up on everyone. When his teacher reported that Ethan would complain of headaches and was always falling asleep in school, I got really worried so I took him to Dr. Severson (child psychologist)."  
House adds "the anxiety was probably affecting his sleep."  
Cuddy nods at her husband and continues "Severson suggested that whenever he's worried about someone, encourage him to call and talk to them by phone."  
"Did it work?"  
"For awhile until your father died, Ethan's anxiety level just went through the roof, so much so that he hyperventilates in panic. He's constantly scared that something bad is going to happen to me or to Blythe or his siblings."  
"Isn't that around the same time when we moved to Baltimore?"  
Cuddy nods "Yes, Severson thought the move would not be a problem. He'll be near more family members that will reassure him that not everyone he loves is leaving him."  
"Was Severson right?"  
"I think so. As long as we let him know where we're going or reassure him on the phone, it seems to soothe his fear."  
"How often does he have these panic attacks?"  
"Not as much as before. Having Jake and Blythe nearby has just been such a tremendous help."  
As House notices that his wife is in the brink of tears, he embraces her and whispers "I'm sorry I wasn't there, but everything is going to be alright."  
Cuddy looks into her husband's blue eyes and replies "I'm so happy that you're with us now."

***

After House and Cuddy pick up their kids from Blythe's place, the twins excitedly give their Dad a quick tour of their condo apartment. The place is about three times the size of Blythe's condo and there's 220 degree panoramic view of downtown Baltimore courtesy of floor-to-ceiling windows on all three sides of the main level and a generous terrace overlooking Inner Harbor. Upon entering the foyer, one is immediately welcomed by a gorgeous gourmet kitchen overlooking the dining area and family room on the right. To the left of the foyer are the living room and the terrace. The upper living space consists of the master suite, three bedrooms, and a loft overlooking the spacious living room below.  
House immediately comments that he'll be living in a "glass house"  
Charlie agrees and adds "I like our old house better. It's very hard to play hide and seek here."  
Ethan however disagrees and argues "I like it here. I can see where everyone is."  
Lizzy on the other hand informs her Daddy that the living room is her stage and asks, "Do you want to see Lizzy sing and dance Daddy?"  
The twins simultaneously reply "no!"  
"Lizzy is asking Daddy not you two silly boys."  
House smirks and gently tells his little princess "Daddy is looking forward to your show. I heard tomorrow is Lizzy night."  
Lizzy's eyes light up and replies "Oh yes Daddy. Oma got me a new dress and I'm wearing it for one of my songs."  
Ethan asks "do you want to see our bedroom Daddy? We now sleep in bunk beds because we're now big boys."  
House replies "sure Ethan" as he walks over to the boys' bedroom.  
Not to be outdone, Lizzy tugs her father's hand and asks "Wanna see my bedroom Daddy? I have a big girl princess bed too."  
Charlie interjects "which you've never slept in. You're such a baby."  
Lizzy argues "no, I'm not a baby! I'm a princess! I take my nap in my princess bed."  
Charlie reasons "remember, you promise Mommy that you'll start sleeping in your bedroom at night."  
"I'm a princess. I can sleep anywhere I want."  
"Nuh-uh, Daddy is now home. You can't sleep in Mommy's bed anymore."  
Lizzy immediately yells "Mommy, Charlie is being mean" and runs off.  
As soon as Charlie enters the room, House asks "where's Lizzy?"  
Charlie gives his Dad an innocent look and replies "she went down to look for Mommy."

House enters the twins' space-themed bedroom complete with 3D solar system, astronauts, and a space shuttle bunk bed.  
Ethan asks "do you like it Daddy?"  
"Yes, it's very cool. I really like that picture of you two dressed up as astronauts."  
Ethan replies "I like that too. We went to the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and we got to wear space suits."  
Charlie adds "oh Daddy, the ceiling lights up like the night sky."  
"Really?"  
Charlie replies "uh-huh. I sleep on top so I can see it every night."  
House looks at Ethan and asks "so, you have the lower bunk huh?"  
Ethan nods and shifts the curtain opening to reveal a globular cluster mural on the wall. He points at the tiny niche on the side and announces "that's my special phone if I need Mommy."  
Charlie leans over to his Dad and whispers "Ethan worries a lot and sometimes he has trouble breathing. Mommy says I have to stay with him and make sure he doesn't passes out."  
House smiles at Charlie and says "that's very nice of you. We're family and family takes care of each other."  
Charlie beams at his father and replies "just like when Mommy took care of you when you were sick?"  
House nods and kisses Charlie's head.  
As the twins start taking out stuff from their toy chest, House notices the picture tucked right next to Ethan's emergency phone. House gingerly sits by the bed and reaches for the picture. It was a photo of him and Ethan posing in front of the Grave Digger truck. House looks at it intently as he tries to recall that day.  
As if reading his father's mind, Ethan states "that was our first Daddy and Ethan day out. You took me to the monster jam rally in Philadelphia."  
House smiles and asks "did you have a great time?"  
Ethan walks over to his father, gives him a hug and replies "it was the bestest day of my life EVER!!!"

_*******_

_**Author's Note #2:**__ This is the penultimate chapter for Minor Setback III. As always, I do appreciate all types of feedback, it's the only way I know if you love, hate or even reading this story ;-)__  
_


	41. Chapter 41

_**Author's Note:**__ First of all, sorry for the delay everyone. I decided to split the last chapter into two. So, here's part one. __I hope you all like it and don't forget to click the "Review this story/chapter" button at the bottom of this page._

_Again, a very big thanks to my awesome beta __**i luv ewansmile**__ for editing this chapter. _

***

As Cuddy is putting on some night cream on her face, House nuzzles up to her shoulder and kisses her neck. He looks up at her reflection in the mirror and comments "God! You are gorgeous."  
She smiles and replies "thank you."  
He continues staring at the mirror and asks "is that my wedding ring on your necklace?"  
"Yes. I have been wearing it close to my heart for safekeeping."  
He motions and asks "may I…?"  
She nods and he reaches over to unclasp the necklace.  
Cuddy looks up to her husband and states "she gave it to me, the day you of your accident."

House surprisingly asks "who? What accident?"  
When Cuddy realizes that he doesn't remember, she shakes her head and replies "it's not important. Let's just celebrate our first night together in almost 16-months."  
"Lise, what accident?"  
"It's not important. You are here now."  
"Lise, I need to know."  
But upon noticing that her entire posture stiffens, House relents "okay, we'll talk about it some other time."

As the two are lying in bed, House declares "I saw the picture in Ethan's bed. I took him to the Monster Truck rally."

Lisa smiles and replies "yes, he talks about that day like it was yesterday. He keeps that picture by his bedside because he hopes that his Daddy will wake up and take him to more outings."

"I will. Lise?"  
"Hmm?"  
"I don't remember much of what happened before I went into a coma. Judging by your reaction, I must have screwed up big time. I'm…I'm sorry I let you down Lise."  
"Oh Greg, we both made mistakes and there's no use dwelling on it. I just want us to move on and seize this opportunity like it's our last one."  
House leans over and gently kisses Cuddy on the lips. He gazes into at her eyes and whispers "I don't think no one has ever loved anyone as much as I love you right now." He kisses her on her left cheek and says "thank you for taking care of me while I was in a coma." He kisses her on the right cheek and says "thank you for being an awesome mother to our children." Finally, he kisses her on her forehead and whispers "thank you for being a wonderful daughter (in-law) to my Mom in her time of grief."  
Cuddy smiles and returns her husband's kisses and replies "you're very welcome."  
"I don't know what I've done to deserve you, but I'll take it. I love you so much Dr. Lisa Cuddy-House."

Cuddy asks "I love you too Dr. House." She stops and asks "you noticed?"  
House grins "how could I not? When did you add the hyphen?"  
"After moving to Baltimore, it's my stubborn way of announcing to the world that I still belong to you."

***

After about a few hours of passionate lovemaking, the couple heard a knock on their door. Little Lizzy announces "Mommy, I can't open the door. I think it's broken."  
Cuddy quickly grabs her night gown and replies "hold on honey, Mommy will be out in a few seconds."  
She leans over to her husband and says "Greg, I need to wash up. Can you take care of her for a minute?"  
House nods and swiftly puts on his boxer. He walks over to the door and greets his daughter "hey little princess, is everything okay?"  
Lizzy innocently asks "what are you doing in my Mommy's room?"  
"This is Mommy and Daddy's room."  
"Ah…do you get to sleep in my Mommy's bed?"  
House smiles and replies "yes, I do."  
"I like sleeping in Mommy's bed."  
House grins and replies "you and me both kid."  
Lizzy looks skeptically at her father and asks "are you afraid of monsters too?"  
House being House promptly replies "nope! But Mommy loves playing with Daddy's monster."  
A confuses look appears before the little girl's face, while Cuddy quickly smacks her husband on the chest.  
Cuddy offers "do you want Mommy to check under your bed?"  
Little Lizzy shakes her head and replies "the monsters hides when you're in my room Mommy."  
House offers "do you want Daddy to check for monsters in your room?"  
Lizzy shakes her head again and replies "I wanna sleep in Mommy's bed."  
Cuddy looks over to her husband for approval.  
Lizzy gives her father a puppy eyes look, which is enough to melt House's heart.  
House shrugs his shoulder and tells Lizzy "just for tonight, okay?"  
Lizzy jumps towards her father, gives him a big hug and declares "you're the best Daddy in the whole world!"  
Cuddy leans over to her husband and teasingly whispers "you're such a wuss!"

An hour later, the twins joined them in bed. By four o'clock in the morning, House wakes up with a stiff neck from sleeping sideways due to space constraints. He gingerly sits by the edge of the bed, and contently looks on at his family. He notices that the king size bed no longer fit his brood. How his kids have grown and how his wife is still as beautiful as the day he met her. A sudden ache appears in his heart at the realization of the pain he had caused his family. Thousands of questions come rushing through his mind as he struggles to remember what occurred before he slipped into a coma. House massages his neck and quietly leaves the room. As he walks down to the family room, he sees a glimpse of the city lights of downtown Baltimore. He grabs the phone by the sofa and heads out to the terrace.

Back in Princeton, Wilson groggily answers the phone "hello."  
"Wilson, this is House."  
"Oh, is everything all right?"  
"Yeah, I need to ask you something."  
"House, it's…" Wilson looks at his nightstand to confirm the time.  
Rachel stirs and asks "who is it?"  
Wilson informs his wife "it's just House."  
"Is everything okay?"  
"Yeah, go back to sleep Rach."  
Wilson quietly exits the room and asks his best friend "what's so important that you have to wake me up at four o'clock in the morning?"  
"I need to know what happened before I went into a coma."  
"Whoa…you don't expect me to answer that question before my first cup of coffee right?"  
House groans and sarcastically replies "stop being a baby, Wilson!"  
"Alright, alright! What do you wanna know?"  
"Did I cheat on Lise?"  
"Did you?"  
"I'm asking the question, you idiot!"  
"Well…contrary to popular belief, I don't have intimate knowledge of your every move. Why are asking me this question?"  
"Lise mentioned that a woman gave her my wedding ring after the accident. I just thought you might know."  
"Oh, that…woman!"  
House groans in frustration.  
Wilson continues "in your infinite wisdom of hiding your pain from your family, you started experimenting with methadone."  
"Okay, Methadone takes care of the pain so, what's that have to do with the other woman?"  
"Well, the methadone brought on its own side effects. You were afraid that your heart will stop beating when you go to sleep."  
"So, I avoided sleeping altogether and started having an affair?"  
"You avoided sleeping but began hallucinating. Cuddy got so scared that she asked you to move out."  
"Did I hurt…?"  
"No, you didn't physically hurt her. However, you were so out of it that you didn't even recognize your own kids."  
"Then, I had an affair?"  
"No, you hired a hooker to keep an eye on you while you tried to get some sleep."  
House sighs in relief at hearing that he didn't cheat on Cuddy and asks "did I overdose?"  
Wilson nods and replies "you instructed your lady friend to call 911 and to deliver the letter (with your ring) to Cuddy."  
"Did I ask for Ketamine treatment in the letter?"  
"Yeah, and your wife granted you your dying wish."  
House smiles and replies "that's my girl!"  
Wilson simply shakes his head.

House thinks out loud "why didn't I just ask Lise about the Ketamine in the first place?"  
"You tried in your unique roundabout way."  
"She said no, so I purposely overdosed on Methadone to guilt her to administer Ketamine on me?"  
"As I said, I don't have intimate knowledge of your every move but that's sounds like something you would do."  
After a few seconds of silence, House asks "how's married life treating you these days?"  
"Good. Hectic with the baby due any time and the delay in the construction of the house. How about you? How was your first day home?"  
"Peachy. I can't fucking remember a whole chunk of time. I'm just worried if I've done or said things that caused irreparable damage to my marriage?"  
"You know that saying about 'time heals all wounds'? Cuddy forgave you a long time ago."  
House nods in silence and asks "how's your wife doing?"  
"Rachel is hanging on. Cuddy told her that sex can induce labor so we tried that last night."  
House snorts and replies "if you did it right, your kid will be popping out today."  
"You're that confident…" before Wilson can finish his sentence, his wife walks over to inform him that her water just broke.  
House smirks and tells his best friend "good luck! Call me when you're officially a daddy."

***

Ethan wakes up to see his Mom on the far left side of the bed, next to her is little Lizzy and Charlie. He smile as it's been awhile since they were all allowed to sleep in Mommy's bed, last night was special because it was Daddy's first night home. The smile quickly disappears upon the realization that his Daddy is not in bed. Ethan immediately jumps out of bed in search for his father. He didn't have to go very far as House is cooking up a storm in the kitchen.  
Ethan asks "Daddy, why did you leave without saying goodbye to me?"  
House is momentarily surprised but quickly replies "I woke up early, I didn't want to disturb you."  
"But Daddy, I was very worried. I thought you left again."  
House drops the utensil and gives his son a hug. "I'm right here E. I'm not going anywhere."  
Ethan nods and replies "you said that the last time and you left without saying goodbye."  
"I know and I'm sorry. Can you forgive Daddy?"  
Ethan puts his arm around his father's neck and replies "I love you Daddy. I just want us to be a family again."  
House can't help but kiss his son's forehead "Oh Ethan…"  
"Daddy?"  
"Yeah?"  
"I like it when you call me E."  
House smiles and asks "you do?"  
Ethan enthusiastically nods his head "because it's your special name for me. Nobody calls me that, just you Daddy."  
House kisses his son again and tells him "okay, sweet E come help Daddy scrabble these eggs!"

***

After breakfast, House finds himself in the midst of a beehive of activities.  
Cuddy tells her husband "Greg, can you check up on the boys and make sure they're ready for school?"  
"Okay" he answers as he walks over to the twins' room.  
Ethan was already dressed in his school uniform of khaki pants and white polo shirt. Meanwhile, Charlie is still in his pajamas.  
House asks Charlie "why aren't you dress yet?"  
Charlie replies "I'm not going to school today."  
"Really? Why's that?"  
Ethan informs his father "he says that every morning. He doesn't like getting ready for school."  
House acknowledges Ethan response and asks "can you leave us for a minute?"  
Ethan nods his head and leaves his father to speak to his brother.  
House asks "so sport, why aren't you going to school today?"  
Charlie shrugs his shoulder and replies "because it's boring. I already know everything they teach me."  
"Is that right?"  
"Hmm…except for religion class. I like that because it's different than Hebrew school."  
"What do they teach you in school?"  
"You know…reading, writing and arithmetic. Boring stuff."  
"Aren't you in the same class as Ethan?"  
Charlie nods his head.  
"Is Ethan bored too?"  
Charlie shrugs his shoulder and replies "he has music class. The teacher thinks he's a genius in piano."  
"You don't have music class?"  
"No, they don't have a drum set in school. I don't want to play a sissy instrument so I just watch them play."  
"Don't you have art class?"  
"They have art but no pottery or anything fun. They got baby stuff like cutting pictures and pasting them. I like our old school in Princeton better. Daddy, can we go back home?"  
"How about if you go get ready for school and I'll speak to your Mom about going back to Princeton?"  
"Really?"  
"Sure. Maybe, we can drive up this weekend and visit your Uncle Wilson, Aunt Rachel and your new cousin."  
Charlie smiles in excitement and asks "did the baby come out yet?"  
"Not yet, but she'll be out soon."  
"Another girl? I hope she doesn't sing non-stop like Lizzy."  
House laughs and tussles Charlie's hair.

_**TBC**_


	42. Chapter 42

_**Author's Note**__ – First of all, special thank you to my wonderful beta, __**i luv ewansmile**__. I greatly appreciate all your feedback and suggestions. Secondly, cyber hugs to everyone for sharing this adventure with me. Your reviews, encouragements, and support have made writing this series a blast. Finally, I want to express my gratitude to my former beta __**Ceciilee**__, to my pinch hitter beta __**Monkey and Music Lover**__, and to my Dutch tutor __**j0k3**__._

_  
_***

After dropping the twins off at school, both Cuddy and House heads to the hospital.  
Cuddy asks "Greg, Jake mentioned that you're contemplating semi-retiring."  
House smirks and replies "I'm contemplating a lot of things--including doing you in the pool instead of attending my aquatic therapy."  
"Do you think of other things besides sex?"  
"Of course! Like this morning, I had a brilliant idea of naming the girls" as he points to Cuddy's breasts.  
Cuddy rolls her eyes and continues driving.  
"Do you wanna hear their names?"  
"No!"  
"But Mooom!"  
"Greg, I'm being serious."  
"I am too. We should have a Simchat bat party for the girls."  
"Greg, you're doing it again."  
Upon noticing Cuddy's irritation, he asks "doing what?"  
"You're deflecting instead of answering me."  
"How long have you known me?"  
"Long enough to know that something is bothering you. But instead of talking to me about it, you're making jokes about my breasts."  
"Shh…Selma and Patty can hear you. Words can hurt you know."  
"House!"  
House shrugs his shoulder and asks "what do you want me to say? That I…I can't remember a big chunk of period before the coma. What if that's not the only thing I don't remember?"  
"Greg, you can't remember everything all at once. It'll take time, you've only been out of coma for a week and a half."  
"What if it doesn't come back?"  
"We'll cross the bridge when we get there. For now, we'll concentrate on getting you back in shape. Both physically and mentally."  
"What do you have in mind?"  
"There's only one way to find out if you still got what it takes to be a doctor."  
"Forget it! I'm not sitting-in on any of your patients."

Cuddy smirks and teasingly replies "believe me; I will never subject my patients to your unique bedside manner." She seriously adds "however, you can diagnose patients by simply observing them silently from a distance."  
"You know you can't make me do clinic duties anymore right?"  
"I know. I was thinking that you can shadow the residents when they do their rounds."  
"And why would I subject myself to that type of humiliation?"

"Because, medicine is what you're great at and you're curious to know if you still have your mojo."  
"I'll think about it."

***

After House's physical and aquatic therapy sessions, he meets his wife at the cafeteria for lunch.  
Cuddy asks "how were your therapy sessions?"  
House simply grunts in reply.  
"It can't be that bad?"  
"No, but my body aches from being stretched all over the place."  
"Jake will be off anytime now, he can drive you home."  
"I'm not an invalid you know. I can drive myself home."  
"Well, you technically can't since your driver's license expired last summer."  
He quickly replies "I can take a cab home."  
"Okay, if that's what you want."  
Noticing the disappointment in his wife's voice, he clarifies "I'm tired, I just need a nap."  
"The kids want to do a show for us tonight. Are you up for it?"  
"Are you kidding me? I've been looking forward to this show since Jake mentioned it to me last week."  
"Do you mind if we go out for a nice early dinner tonight?"  
"Why?"  
"Well, Blythe and the kids go all out with their production. I think it'll be good for us to be out of their hair for an hour or two."  
House nods but before he can reply Cuddy's cell phone rings. She picks up and replies "hello."  
"Cuddy? This is Wilson."  
"Oh, hi Wilson. Is Rachel okay?"  
"Yeah, she just gave birth to Rebecca Anne Wilson!"  
Cuddy smiles and excitedly replies "Mazel Tov! How is she and the baby?"  
"Baby Rebecca is doing great! She scored a 9 on her APGAR. Rachel is fine too but a little exhausted."  
"How long was she in labor?"  
"Her water broke at around 430 this morning, but she didn't give birth until about thirty minutes ago."  
"Wow! Please give my love to my sister and my little niece. We'll drive up this weekend."  
"Thanks Cuddy. I have to go, please tell House the good news. He wasn't answering his cell phone."  
Cuddy looks at her husband and replies "He probably left his cell phone at home again. Don't worry, I'll let him know. Mazel Tov again Wilson!"

Shortly after she shuts her cell phone, Jake walks over to join them.  
Jake asks "What's up?"  
Cuddy eagerly notifies Jake "your Aunt Rachel just gave birth to baby Rebecca!"  
"That's great! Am I correct in assuming both mom and daughter are doing well?"  
"Yes, but Rachel was in labor for almost nine hours. Poor woman must be exhausted by now. Anyway, I need to clear out my calendar for next week just so we can stay in Princeton for at least a week."  
Cuddy gives her husband a goodbye kiss and is about to lean toward her son when Jake quickly reminds her "not in the hospital Mom."  
Cuddy smiles and instead gently pats him on the cheek.

House asks Jake "are you heading home soon?"  
"Yeah, I just wanna grab a sandwich. Why?"  
"I need a lift home."

"Okay, give me fifteen minutes. I just need something in my stomach before I pass out for the afternoon. You look like you need some z's too."  
House nods but changes the topic "your Mom said you've been working for 72 hours straight."  
Jake jokingly replies "yeah, I know it's nothing compared to the 120 some hours you guys had to do."  
"No, we had to work those hours so you don't have to put up with this shit."  
"It's okay Dad. I have a couple of days to sleep it off and I'll be back in business."  
"You know you don't need to do this if you don't want to."  
"Huh? Dad, what are you talking about?"  
"I just want you to know that it's okay not to be like me. I surely never followed my old man in his line of business."  
Jake smiles "Dad, I wear my 'House M.D.' lab coat not because you expect me to but because I want to. I'm proud to follow the family tradition and I love being a doctor."  
House nods and beamingly replies "I'm glad to hear that. Your Mom and I are very proud of what you've accomplished. We will always love you no matter what career you choose."  
"Dad?"  
"Yeah?"  
"Have you been watching Dr. Phil again?"  
"Nope. But I have been listening to the gossip up at the nurse's station. I heard the hospital got a surprise visit from ACGME (_Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education_) yesterday."  
Jake shrugs his shoulder and replies "yeah, they got an anonymous tip that residents were working more than the maximum number of weekly hours allowed."  
In a mock shock, House replies "what? A hospital that makes their residents worked long hours?"  
Jake laughs at his father's sarcasm "rumor has it that the whistleblower is a resident from main Hopkins (downtown Baltimore hospital)."  
House looks at his son and seriously asks "how's your residency going?"  
"Honestly, it's like my internship in med school only longer hours."  
House sarcastically replies "yeah, I think that's why first year residents are called interns."  
Jake shrugs his shoulder and adds "I'm above med students but still doing skunk work."  
"That exciting huh?"  
"Well, at least I don't get blamed for blunders here."  
"They're treating you well?"  
Jake smirks and points to his name tag "they actually do. It's one place where this last name actually means something."  
"I know. You probably get all the hot chicks after they see that last name."  
Both father and son share a chuckle at their inside joke.

While it is common knowledge that House was kicked out of Hopkins medical school, not many know that he was actually invited back after graduation. House completed a two year fellowship in nephrology at Hopkins and a couple of the current department heads are his former colleagues.

***

After picking up the twins from school, Cuddy brings them to visit Blythe.  
Blythe immediately greets the boys and tells them that snack is on the kitchen table.  
Both boys quickly kiss their Oma and run towards the kitchen.  
Cuddy asks Blythe "do you mind if we hang out here for awhile. Greg and Jake are probably still sleeping upstairs."  
"No problem, Lizzy is still asleep anyway. She's been rehearsing non-stop for her show tonight."  
Cuddy smiles and replies "well, I hope she makes room for her brothers because they also want to perform for their Daddy."  
"Oh don't worry. We have something for both of you."  
"For Greg and I?"

"Yes, it will be a surprise. What time will you two be back from your date?"  
Cuddy blushes and replies "it's not a date. We'll just grab a bite across the street at Roy's and walk around the neighborhood."  
"Since it's a school night, we need to wrap it up by 8:30 right?"  
Charlie excitedly interjects "we don't have school tomorrow. We're going to Princeton to visit our new cousin."  
Blythe smiles and asks Cuddy "have you seen those cute pictures of baby Becca? Emma e-mailed them to us about an hour ago."

"No, I haven't checked my e-mail yet.  
"Ethan asks "can we see the pictures of baby Becca Oma?"  
"Sure thing sweety."

***

House and Cuddy head down for their dinner reservation at around five-thirty. Roy's restaurant is about five minutes walk from their condo so they leisurely stroll through the various retail shops along the way. Cuddy is wearing a short black dress, while House wears slacks, a light blue dress shirt and a jacket. They look like a couple out on their honeymoon with the way they look and touch each other.

House initially wasn't thrilled when Jake informed him that the dress code for the restaurant is business casual but accepted it after his son reminded him that this can be their Valentine dinner.  
_**  
Flashback begins  
**__"Your Mom and I don't celebrate Valentines."  
"Why not?"  
"Because it's a commercial holiday where prices of flowers & restaurants are over inflated."_

"_Well, then just give your wife a good time in celebration of your awakening."  
"My awakening?"  
"Yeah, Mom has been holding the front for you for the last 16 months. It won't hurt you to give her a little something something for a couple of hours."  
"I gave her more than something last night, that's why I'm exhausted now."  
"TMI Dad! You don't need to buy her flowers if that's not your thing but you gotta order her some of Roy's famous chocolate soufflé or pineapple upside down cake for desert."  
"I'm sure your Mom has eaten from this place many a times."  
"Actually, Mom has never been at Roy's. I've offered to take her several times but she always insisted that she'll go with you."  
__**Flashback ends**_

***

The restaurant had just opened for the night and already a line has formed by the entrance.  
Cuddy quickly reassures her husband "don't worry, we have reservations."  
"Oh, I'm not worried. I'm feasting my eyes with the gorgeous view in front of me."  
She gently caresses his face and softly replies "you're making me blush Dr. House."  
He puts his arms around her waist and whispers "I like how your dress shows your **ass**ets. The girls look extra perky tonight."  
"You don't think the chilly night might have something to do with it?"  
"Nah, Selma and Patty definitely miss their Daddy."  
Cuddy rolls her eyes and replies "okay big Daddy, let's head in" as Cuddy drags her husband inside the restaurant.

After they were seated, Cuddy asks "what time do you want to leave for Princeton tomorrow?"  
"Hmm…I was hoping we can sleep-in tomorrow."  
Cuddy coyly smiles and asks "what do you have in mind Dr. House?"  
House wags his brows suggestively and replies "that's for me to know and you to find out."  
"Is that right?"  
House nods his head and adds "yup! I had a nice long nap this afternoon. I'm all recharged and set to go for a few rounds."  
"Few rounds of what Dr. House?"  
"Are you up for a 36-hole marathon Mrs. House?"  
"Isn't that a bit ambitious for your Dr. House?"  
"I don't know. I thought I'll show you the art of making a hole-in-one."  
Cuddy couldn't help but laugh at her husband's bravado. She instructs him "okay stud, eat up so you'll have enough strength for tonight."

The food is great and the company is even better as the two catch up on their day.  
Cuddy informs her husband that Dr. Carson called that afternoon.  
"What did he want?"  
"The Board has authorized him to offer me my old job."  
"And what did you tell him?"  
"I told him that I'll discuss it with you and get back to him next week."  
"Playing hard to get. Nice!"  
"They heard that we'll be in town this weekend so they requested a meeting for Monday."  
"So what's the plan?"  
"They're offering me a very good employment package. I'll be stupid not to consider it."  
"Then take it!"  
She hesitantly replies "the kids. I hate to uproot them again."  
"Charlie is bored in school. Ethan wouldn't mind the change. And Lizzy, she'll be fine as long as she gets an audience."  
"What about Jake?"  
"Jake would love to have his privacy back. He's twenty-one years old, a full-fledged doctor who can't bring home a date."  
Cuddy smiles and asks "your Mom? I hate for her to be by herself."  
"Ask her to move to Princeton with us." He quickly adds "she can stay in my old apartment."  
"Are you gonna be okay with this?"  
"I'm gonna miss our new dig but I think I can live with it."

"Isn't this a great neighborhood? Everything is so conveniently close. I've never lived in a place where I can walk to the grocery store."  
House nods and informs Cuddy that Jake took him for a quick stroll around the neighborhood early that afternoon.  
Cuddy is a bit surprised by House's revelation and asks "why? I thought you both were tired."  
"Yeah, but I needed a belt for my pants so we went to the shops."  
Cuddy quickly checks her husband pants and smiles approvingly of his fashion choice.  
House simply rolls his eyes and asks "did you know we have seven movie theatres, a Starbucks, and an ice cream place within our building?"  
"Yeah, the kids are gonna miss the pools. We have four pools in our condo."

The two had such a great time that they didn't realize the time until they got a phone call from Ethan.  
"Mommy, are you coming home yet?"  
Cuddy looks at the time and immediately apologize "I'm sorry honey. Yes, Daddy and I will be home in a few minutes."  
House quickly asks the waiter to wrap up their desserts to go.  
They arrived back home at around eight o' clock and are immediately greeted by hugs from their young children.  
Jake asks his Dad "did you have a great time?"  
"The food was good."  
"Didn't I tell you or didn't I tell you? What desert did you guys order?"  
House lifts the doggie bag and replies "your mom and I will have it later after THE show."

"I guess, you never got around to checking out the neighborhood."  
"Nope, maybe next week."  
Lizzy pulls her Daddy's hand and asks "come on Daddy, it's almost show time."

As Cuddy and House enters the family room, they immediately notice that the room has been rearranged.

On the north wall, a huge colorful painting serves as a backdrop hiding the TV and the fireplace. A makeshift platform stage occupies the middle of the room and is flanked by the piano on the left. House leans over to his wife and whispers "is this normal?"  
Cuddy shakes her head and replies "no, this is the first time they moved the show into the family room."

"Is that a good thing?"  
"I'm not sure."

Jake quickly informs his parents to sit down on the sofa as the show is about to commence.  
He promptly starts with "the 'Full House Production' proudly presents the E.C.L. show."

Lizzy walks on the stage and all of sudden starts screaming 'Ahh! Ahh! Ahh!' Ethan and Charlie (dress in hip hop gear) starts rapping 'S-I-M-P, Squirrels in my pants!'  
Both Cuddy and House can't help but laugh at their kids' performance. Even Blythe is spotted swinging to the beat. Afterwards, the trio received a thunderous applause from their parents.  
As Lizzy and Charlie leave the stage, Ethan heads over to the piano to play Bach's Minuet in G major.  
It was a piece that House began teaching Ethan but didn't have the opportunity to complete because the pain in his leg became unbearable. Ethan not only did a wonderful job, but he brought his father to the brink of tears. Charlie quickly lifted the mood with his unique dance rendition of the 'Cha Cha Slide'. Lizzy on the other hand, entertained her parents with a very enthusiastic performance of 'Five Little Monkeys', 'Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star' and 'Let's Have a Tea Party.'  
Cuddy leans over to House and whispers "yell, more. They love it when I ask for an encore."  
House smiles and starts hooting for more.  
The trio comes back on stage with their Oma as they all take another bow. Then Jake asks his grandmother to join his parents on the sofa as the kids have dedicated the encore for her.  
A very surprised Blythe sits next to her son with a perplexed look on her face.

As Lizzy starts singing 'Hoofd, Schouders, Knie en Teen' (the Dutch version of 'Head, Shoulders, Knee and Toes'), the twins starts demonstrating behind her. House squeezes his Mom's hand as he remembers the song from his childhood and Blythe can't help but be touch by her grandchildren. As customary in all House family shows, they ended the night with a conga line where the kids convince the adults to join them as they go around the house dancing.

_**Fin **_

_**End Note: **__If you enjoy this fic, please drop me a note.  
____  
_


	43. Chapter 43

5/2/2010

Hi! This is **_SweetSauce_** and I just recently learned that my story was voted **"Best House/Cuddy Romance Fiction"** at **_2010 Rock the House Awards_**. Wow!!! Given the awesome nominees in my category, I am truly honored.

I would like to take the opportunity to thank my wonderful betas:** _i luv ewansmile_** and **_Ceciilee_** for making it possible for a novice fiction writer like myself to unleash crazy Huddy ideas to other House fans.  
To all my loyal readers who took the time to nominate and vote for me— Thanks again for all your support, and I look forward to hearing your feedback about **Minor Setback Part IV**.


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